Integrity is not simply making the right decisions when we really want to do the opposite. It’s not choosing the righteous path, even though we would rather satisfy the flesh. Although, we should make the right decisions and follow a righteous path, true integrity goes beyond the surface of our actions.
Integrity is the consistency of matter. We know that a piece of hard wood is, indeed, hard wood if it has the same consistency on the inside that it appears to have on the outside. If the wood is solid all the way through, interior and exterior, it has integrity. The literal definition for integrity is “the state of being whole and undivided; unified, unimpaired, having internal consistency.”
Having integrity means that we don’t have to put a mask on and pretend to be something that we are not. We don’t need to try to love people, because Love is a person, Jesus, who lives inside of us. Having integrity means that we are free to let the person that we really are on the inside come through on the outside.
The Law of Moses proved to us time and time again that it doesn’t have the power to change the heart. The law could only deal with our behavior. This is how the Pharisees were able to have the appearance of holiness on the outside, and yet be hollow and cold on the inside. Their actions may have changed, but their hearts remained the same. Only Jesus can change our heart.
Your body is the habitation that Jesus has chosen to settle in. His presence now fills the caverns of your heart that used to be desolate. The once chilled air is now replaced by the warmth of His dwelling. Along with His occupancy came renovation. He made it beautiful, all the way through, from the inside out.
- David Olinger
