As believers, our lives should be marked by integrity. This is true whether we’re interacting with brothers and sisters in Christ or with those who are rejecting Him. It is also true when no one but God Himself is watching.
Integrity is the opposite of hypocrisy. It is the stability of our faith, the unwavering devotion to God that keeps us trusting Him when it is inconvenient, unpopular, and perhaps even unreasonable to do so.
Job was such a righteous man that God said there was “none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man” (Job 2:3 ESV). That’s quite an endorsement! Yet if anyone had reason to be angry with God, by all appearances we’d say that Job did.
For a while, God let Satan put Job through one agony after another. Things got so bad that Job’s wife urged him to give up, curse God, and die (2:9).
But if Job were to have renounced God, he would have let go of his integrity. He would have ditched his faith, basically saying that God was good for times of health and wealth, but not to be trusted when you’re distressed or diseased.
As Job’s life shows, integrity does not shield us from pain or from sometimes wondering whether God has forgotten us; but it will always bring us back to the truth.
Men and women of integrity are not fair-weather believers. In even the worst of times, they ultimately point people to the goodness of God.
Saying yes to God is not only a matter of obedience; it’s also a matter of trust. It is a wholehearted belief that God is good, even when life isn’t.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,
for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life,
which God has promised to those who love him.
(James 1:12)