INTEGRITY: THE PINNACLE OF POSITIVE LIFESTYLE IN THE SOCIETY

 INTEGRITY: THE PINNACLE OF POSITIVE LIFESTYLE IN THE SOCIETY

Written by Mbibi Longinus Chinagorom(PAA)/09124601622

The creation of planet earth and every breathing things in it centres on integrity. This is seen when God said, "let there be" and it was so. That is why His position in the universe remains unchallengeable. This is also known when His Spirit moved upon the face of water. That is why water is incapable of accepting evil and falsehood let alone to harm the humanity. Therefore, this positive illustration of water is a practical step to be taken by mankind in order to rendezvous the timeless life of integrity.

However, the entirety of human race, administration, manifestation and demonstration in the world is truer beckoning on philosophy and disposition of integrity for it to accomplish its positive mission or purpose in tandem with the standard of the Creator of universe. This simply means that the trueness of humanity can never be discovered or believable without integrity. Integrity becomes life wire of human race, conduct and exhibition especially in the human world where evil and corruption are ravaging and have deeply eaten in the lives and living of the people around the globe. 

This is severely disgusted and forbidden by the Creator of the Universe because integrity is impeccable life in the light of the creation on earth implants in every living things to live as the nature even as the zenith quality of life because it is proceeding from the Creator. But the striking out of evil, wickedness and corruption could not let the humanity to behold and realize the consequential benefits of life of integrity in the human existence.

Thus, it is the pinnacle of every positive and excellent lifestyle in human existence and its endeavours as we have seen the practical example in Daniel in the Holy Scripture. This lifestyle enables one to succeed and progress with clear conscience and good thought in human society.

Further more, one may ask, what exactly is integrity?

Integrity is incredibly important. The dictionary defines integrity in a few ways: "1: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : INCORRUPTIBILITY; 2: an unimpaired condition: SOUNDNESS; 3: the quality or state of being complete or undivided : COMPLETENESS." It is the act of maintaining standard of truth, righteousness, and keeping principles and promises when others are following shortcuts or in the face of pervasiveness, corruption and evil pleasure. This is also one of the qualities or attributes of people of honesty and sincerity. A man of integrity is a man that always stable not divided in opinion or decision making. He has a pleasure of showing positive examples at all times, places or position he finds himself.

Having integrity is similar to having good character, but goes beyond good character in that it is defined as incorruptible, sound, and complete. Integrity is the encapsulation of having good character that is unwavering and consistent. For Christians, as we continue on in our walk with Christ we should see our integrity increase as evidence of our spiritual transformation and growth (2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 2:12–13).

Godly character can be evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in the life of a Christian (Galatians 5:22–23). Integrity is consistently living with good character—honesty, faithfulness, reliability, morality, self-control, etc. Integrity does not depend on how easy or difficult your personal circumstances may be.

Strategically speaking, integrity is one of the big messages we see throughout the Bible is that integrity enables us to persevere. In the story of Job, we see a situation where all that Job loved and had worked for was taken away from him. His children died, his crops and riches withered away. His health was poor. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. It was Job's integrity that kept him from doing as his wife recommended, cursing God and dying in his hardship (Job 2:3, 9–10). Later on, he again asserted the importance of his integrity: "till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days" (Job 27:5b–6). Job's integrity enabled him to persevere through extenuating hardships until God restored what had been lost.

Consequently, across cultures and time periods, there are frequent instances where corruption not only runs rampant, but is even rewarded, bringing greater power to those who engage in it. Integrity is morally incorruptible, and people of integrity will not be bribed or swayed based on what sort of gain may be in it for them if they were to compromise (Proverbs 28:6). 

Corroborating the above postulation, the biblical perspective revealed that "The righteous who walks in his integrity—blessed are his children after him!" (Proverbs 20:7). "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out" (Proverbs 10:9). "Whoever walks in integrity will be delivered, but he who is crooked in his ways will suddenly fall" (Proverbs 28:18). "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them" (Proverbs 11:3). "May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you [God]" (Psalm 25:21). "But you [God] have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever" (Psalm 41:12).

Jesus Christ is our perfect example of integrity. After He was baptized, He spent forty days and nights in the wilderness where He was tempted by the Devil. His integrity held firm in the face of extreme temptation, even being offered all the world's kingdoms and glory (Matthew 4:1—11). Jesus was able to overcome temptation and maintain His integrity through speaking the Word of God.

Thus, Second Corinthians 8:21 says, "For we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man." As Christians, our goal should be to have a clear conscience and live out of sincere faith, with our integrity as evidence of our love for God and others: "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love" (2 Peter 1:5–7). Ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit who accomplishes this work in us (Philippians 2:12–13; Romans 8:28–30).

Conclusively, the writer demands that what is right should be done all the time. This is because good principle helps the individual and society to develop in uprightness, morality, discipline, human relations and righteousness. Mankind should at all times exhibit the quality of integrity in their lives such as being people of probity, honesty, contentment, truthfulness, fair-play and non-compromise of principles of justice, equality and obedience. There should be discouragement of negative principles of worthlessness, mismanagement, rapacity and irresponsibility in life and its administration and manifestation. This will make us to be people of integrity in the society.