We want our lives to be marked by character and integrity, but just what does this mean? Character is the totality of who we genuinely are inside. It is all that we think and feel, what we truly stand for, which is expressed in our pattern of behavior.

Integrity is a part of our character and is best known by three behaviors:

1. Telling the truth.
2. Keeping one’s promises.
3. Taking responsibility for one’s behavior.

In this story, the people suffer because they broke their promise to follow God. However, they show integrity in how they take responsibility for their choices. They erable without God. All of us fall short at times, but we should not wallow in our misery. We sin; but with integrity, we do our best to restore our broken relationships.

Not only does our integrity protect us, but it also leaves a legacy of stability for our children. Children watch closely and learn how to handle difficult situations from their parents. This makes it vital for us to make good decisions and exhibit clear thinking over many years. In their own troubled times, adult children who have inherited this legacy of stability will ask, “What would Mom and Dad do? How would they think this through? What advice would they seek from others? How long would they allow themselves to decide what to do? How would they pray about it?” In this way, our integrity lives on.

Take time to pray and ask God to make you into a person of integrity – a truth teller, a promise keeper, a humble restorer; to help you pass on a legacy of stability to your children and others who are influenced by you.

Take time to reflect on these questions:

1. Did you inherit a legacy of stability? Whether yes or no, how did you observe the way troubled times were handled?
2. Which of the three behaviors of integrity do you feel you are the strongest in? Which of the three do you most need to improve?
3. What kind of legacy do you want to pass on?

Consider these passages for further study on Integrity:

Psalm 25:21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,
    because my hope, Lord,^[a] is in you.

Proverbs 20:7 The righteous lead blameless lives;
    blessed are their children after them.

Titus 2:6-8 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. ⁷ In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness ⁸ and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

Personally, I tend to think of this subject often as it sets the tone of my priorities. Leaving a legacy is high ranking on my priority in how I think about what I do in my life. How important is it to you?

Great thoughts of Gary Chapman in setting the tone on how we look at the choices we need to make in our lives.

The most important legacy we can leave is our personal character and integrity. This legacy has the greatest impact on how we are remembered by our children and in generations to follow. The obituaries of yesteryear told of the character of the person who had died. And though today’s death notices seldom tell whether the individual was kind or humble or generous, the qualities of character are just as important now as they were when our grandparents were young. No matter how a person tries to hide who he or she is, the truth always becomes known.

The pursuit of integrity never ends – not in this lifetime, anyway. Every day brings new obstacles, new temptations, and new challenges. On the bright side, every day also brings new opportunities to show the qualities of your character, to correct past lapses of integrity, and to add to your legacy.

Take time to pray and ask God for the wisdom to recognize integrity challenges when you face them and for the strength to make the right choices, regardless of the consequences.

Discuss and reflect on these questions:

How would you respond to someone who argued that the pursuit of integrity is just black-and-white thinking in a world mostly made up of gray areas?

How do your daily decisions – at home, at work, among friends, and in the community – reflect your commitment to integrity?

What steps can you take to correct a past lapse of integrity?

Consider these passages for further study on Integrity:

Psalm 15:1-5

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
    Who may live on your holy mountain?

² The one whose walk is blameless,
    who does what is righteous,
    who speaks the truth from their heart;
³ whose tongue utters no slander,
    who does no wrong to a neighbor,
    and casts no slur on others;
⁴ who despises a vile person
    but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
    and does not change their mind;
⁵ who lends money to the poor without interest;
    who does not accept a bribe from the innocent?

Whoever does these things
    will never be shaken.

Proverbs 16:11 Honest scales and balances belong to the Lord;
    all the weights in the bag are of his making.

Titus 2:1-8

You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. ² Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, love, and in endurance.

³ Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ⁴ Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

⁶ Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. ⁷ In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness ⁸ and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

The study is from Exodus 1:15-21.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” ¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

Standing up for what you see is right shows that you have a stand for Integrity. There is a time and place for sharing what you stand for. Doing it publically when things could just be easily done privately should show integrity. When things are not settled publically, let them know before a public notice is made. Either way, your character, and integrity will be known to others, and they will be stood out in ways you may never realize.