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Integrity

The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the willful contrariness and crookedness of the treacherous shall destroy them.
Proverbs 11:3

Over the past years our society has gradually declined to the point that it no longer honors God. We live in a world that is not concerned about having integrity. Many times the world is more concerned about quantity than quality. People carelessly speak half-truths and exaggerations. They make deceptive comments that lead many to believe something that is not true.

As BELIEVERS, we are in the world but not of the world.
(John 17:11,14)
Let's not act like the world.

What does the word integrity mean?

To be devoted to a code or standard of values; to be honest and upright (in right standing)

As Christians our standard should be much higher than the world's. There are many things that we would not even think of doing because we know they are wrong. But even as devoted Christians we may find ourselves making too many compromises.

Our standard of integrity should be to ask ourselves....
What Would Jesus Do?
Jesus is our standard of integrity.

Intergrity is being committed to a life of excellence, as our God is excellent.
Integrity is keeping our word. Commitment is giving our all and finishing what we start.

Keep your word, even if it costs you.
Be committed to integrity.

Wendy Ward's story is told in the book "Undefeated" by Dave Branon. In 2001 she won the Wendy's Championship for Children LPGA Golf tournament. However her true test of integrity was in 2000 when she was leading the McDonald's LPGA tournament. First place was worth $210,000.00.

"On the thirteenth hole, Ward smacked a shot onto the green, a shot that landed her ball within easy striking distance for par. She grabbed her putter and walked onto the green. She stood over the ball, held her putter in place, and prepared to hit the ball. It was just a ten-footer - pretty much a gimme that would have allowed her to maintain her position in her battle with Inkster.

But before she could coax the ball into the cup, an odd thing happened. The ball moved. On its own. She hadn't hit it or brushed it. It just moved. Who knows why?

Here's the thing. No one else saw the ball move. Not even her playing partner, Juli, had seen it make its mischievous move. Nobody saw the ball do its little wiggle but Wendy.
And God.
She could have proceeded as if nothing happened. She could have pulled her club back and tapped the shot into its little resting place.
But she didn't. Instead, Wendy told Juli that the ball had moved. Then, doing just as the rules required, she added another stroke onto her score....

And how did Wendy Ward finish? You guessed it! She went into the clubhouse with a 282 - just one self-assessed penalty stroke behind the co-leaders.

Most of us would go into a rant if that kind of unfairness happened to us. But while Wendy doesn't think the rule stands out as the most judicious standard in the book, she was not about to lose her cool about it. "Did I think this rule was fair, considering I didn't even touch the ball? Absolutely not! But a rule is a rule, so I called the penalty."
Then she continued to explain her motive for giving herself an added stroke when a lesser person would have waved it off with a shrug.

"Just like God calls us to obey His commands, I am called to adhere to the rules of golf. I also believed that God would reward me later for my integrity and my honesty. No one but me saw the ball move - not Juli, not even the TV camera. But I knew it moved, and that was all that mattered."

"...Ward understood that her actions go beyond how they affect her personally. She "gets it" that Christian athletes answer to a higher, more respectable standard.
"I guess it was what Jesus would have done, and I was wearing one of those WWJD bracelets."

In John 14, Jesus told us that He is the way, the truth, and the life. And because He is the truth - because He is truth personified - He leads the way for us at any time we might wonder if truth, integrity, and honesty are as important as whatever personal goals we might be able to achieve without them.

(from Chapter 1 Undefeated)

Coach Craig Gandy remembers a baseball game that he played when he was 12 years old. He was tagged out while running to 3rd base. No one saw the tag and he was called safe. Most players would have stayed on 3rd base pretending that they never felt the tag. But Craig knew he was tagged and he walked off to the dug out. His coach told him to go back to base because he was called safe. He surprised everyone when he told his coach that he was tagged, and he is out. He knew the rules, and he did not care if the umpire saw the tag or not he chose to walk in integrity. That is the kind of Coach you have today, and it is the kind of players we have on our team. We may not always think the calls are fair, but we will walk in integrity and play our very best.