#10 | What Does Our Integrity & Character Look Like? | I Will Not Settle - Series
Job 4:6 “Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope?”
I love the Book of Job….
It is a Book that reveals the character and integrity of God and Job. I have learned so much from this one Book and want to share some in this blog. There is so much to share on integrity and character I would probably run out of space and time to do so. So I will only share my own highlights as best I can to help us appreciate more about Job and God!! Such an awesome Book!!
I begin with the meaning of integrity: Honor, uprightness and incorruptibility, honesty, and trustworthiness.
Those are some mature meanings that I have been thinking about since I started this blog today. These are not attributes attained over night. They are a higher standard that’s set before us which can only come with a desire to read God's Word, pray and embrace the purposes of God in our journey. Only with God’s direction and instruction can we have any of these attributes.
Character is defined as: Disposition, moral strength, a person’s essential qualities, reputation, and character reference.
For me these are high standards that we can choose to have only by being intentional.
They don’t just “happen”.
In my youth this was the standard for all people to have.
Even for those who didn’t follow Jesus. It was “polite behavior” that was correct. We opened doors for the elderly or infirmed, without question. We checked on them as well for their needs. Saying “thank you and you’re welcome,” were expected responses and considered a standard of respect for one another.
Today these behaviors are not followed so much. Even those folks who did not follow Jesus, knew what was respectful behavior. Again, today even those of us that follow Jesus and call ourselves Christians, don't always follow that behavior. We’ve lost respect for one another in many ways. I believe it’s because we have lost true reverence for our God. I believe that’s the foundation of where it begins and where it starts. Reverence and awe for our God keeps us humble and dependent on Him. We can be humbled when we reverence and worship Him.
Today there's an attitude of “you owe me”, one of personal entitlement, and what we can have or get for ourselves. We have become a selfish people instead of selfless to serve one another. We can return to having character and integrity, it’s what we need and it costs us nothing to respond with respect. It can improve our attitude and relationships toward others. In the book of Job, reverence is his confidence!! (Job 4:6 “Is not your reverence your confidence? And integrity of your ways your hope?”)
Psalm 119:11 “Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You”.
This is one of my favorite scriptures because it’s my constant reminder of how much I need His Word. Without His Word we remain crippled in so many ways to live life in victory!
Let’s consider Job. He was a man of exemplary character and unwavering righteousness. He feared God and shunned evil and maintained integrity throughout all of his suffering and afflictions. In his anguish he did not blame or curse God.
He recognized everything he had was a gift from God. He did not place trust in his possessions. When tragedy struck and he lost everything, Job's response was to worship God (Job 1:21). The trust Job had for God remained steadfast throughout his trials because he trusted God's character and His sovereignty.
When we can really know someone’s character, and trust his integrity, it can move us to trust and have a peace about doing it.
Job questioned God’s justice but affirmed His sovereignty (Job 13:15 “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”.)
Job maintained his integrity but was sad for the lack of empathy from his friends (Job 16:17-20). Job’s friends falsely assumed his suffering was due to sin. Job wrestled with God’s purposes but never cursed God. His example can teach us to:
God’s ways are higher than our understanding.
Questioning God’s justice is rooted in pride!
True wisdom is found in knowing and trusting God.
When we practice and exhibit traits of integrity and character, it reveals us to be good witnesses for Jesus. It’s noticed by others when we act out our ways that reflect both integrity and character.
Some examples of integrity are:
Examples of good character are:
Now we can examine our own hearts to see how we measure up to these listed examples of integrity and character.
But we can pray and ask God which ones we are lacking in, and believe He will teach us and train us to have them. But the Bible teaches us about these in Job who was a great man of God that we can learn from him. He truly was a man of both integrity and character.
So I thank you Lord that we all can be children of our King to have these attributes and it will be a witness of who God is in us, that by exhibiting these traits it would promote people to want what we have - a life of salvation in Jesus.
Thank you Lord for helping us with this and for transforming and conforming us daily, to be more like You Jesus. We ask this in Your Name Jesus!!
Lucy Barretta
The On God Blog
I love the Book of Job….
It is a Book that reveals the character and integrity of God and Job. I have learned so much from this one Book and want to share some in this blog. There is so much to share on integrity and character I would probably run out of space and time to do so. So I will only share my own highlights as best I can to help us appreciate more about Job and God!! Such an awesome Book!!
I begin with the meaning of integrity: Honor, uprightness and incorruptibility, honesty, and trustworthiness.
Those are some mature meanings that I have been thinking about since I started this blog today. These are not attributes attained over night. They are a higher standard that’s set before us which can only come with a desire to read God's Word, pray and embrace the purposes of God in our journey. Only with God’s direction and instruction can we have any of these attributes.
Character is defined as: Disposition, moral strength, a person’s essential qualities, reputation, and character reference.
For me these are high standards that we can choose to have only by being intentional.
They don’t just “happen”.
In my youth this was the standard for all people to have.
Even for those who didn’t follow Jesus. It was “polite behavior” that was correct. We opened doors for the elderly or infirmed, without question. We checked on them as well for their needs. Saying “thank you and you’re welcome,” were expected responses and considered a standard of respect for one another.
Today these behaviors are not followed so much. Even those folks who did not follow Jesus, knew what was respectful behavior. Again, today even those of us that follow Jesus and call ourselves Christians, don't always follow that behavior. We’ve lost respect for one another in many ways. I believe it’s because we have lost true reverence for our God. I believe that’s the foundation of where it begins and where it starts. Reverence and awe for our God keeps us humble and dependent on Him. We can be humbled when we reverence and worship Him.
Today there's an attitude of “you owe me”, one of personal entitlement, and what we can have or get for ourselves. We have become a selfish people instead of selfless to serve one another. We can return to having character and integrity, it’s what we need and it costs us nothing to respond with respect. It can improve our attitude and relationships toward others. In the book of Job, reverence is his confidence!! (Job 4:6 “Is not your reverence your confidence? And integrity of your ways your hope?”)
Psalm 119:11 “Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You”.
This is one of my favorite scriptures because it’s my constant reminder of how much I need His Word. Without His Word we remain crippled in so many ways to live life in victory!
Let’s consider Job. He was a man of exemplary character and unwavering righteousness. He feared God and shunned evil and maintained integrity throughout all of his suffering and afflictions. In his anguish he did not blame or curse God.
He recognized everything he had was a gift from God. He did not place trust in his possessions. When tragedy struck and he lost everything, Job's response was to worship God (Job 1:21). The trust Job had for God remained steadfast throughout his trials because he trusted God's character and His sovereignty.
When we can really know someone’s character, and trust his integrity, it can move us to trust and have a peace about doing it.
Job questioned God’s justice but affirmed His sovereignty (Job 13:15 “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”.)
Job maintained his integrity but was sad for the lack of empathy from his friends (Job 16:17-20). Job’s friends falsely assumed his suffering was due to sin. Job wrestled with God’s purposes but never cursed God. His example can teach us to:
- Cling to God’s character, and not our circumstances
- Reject others’ explanations for our suffering/trials
- Express our pain honestly while trusting God’s heart
God’s ways are higher than our understanding.
Questioning God’s justice is rooted in pride!
True wisdom is found in knowing and trusting God.
When we practice and exhibit traits of integrity and character, it reveals us to be good witnesses for Jesus. It’s noticed by others when we act out our ways that reflect both integrity and character.
Some examples of integrity are:
- Keeping promises - our word means being dependable to others in need.
- Honoring confidentiality (which also may allow God to trust us with things He may want to reveal).
- Taking responsibility for our own behavior and actions.
- Treating others with respect.
- Admitting our mistakes.
- Asking for forgiveness when we have offended someone.
- Forgiving another no matter who is at fault.
- Being honest in all situations.
- Doing the right thing even when no one else is around or watching.
- Sticking to our ethics and moral principles at all times.
- Keeping secrets. (Honoring privacy)
- No gossiping.
- Being willing to help someone in need whenever possible.
Examples of good character are:
- Character can be revealed through our words and actions.
- Demonstration in our choices we make both for good, and avoid making bad choices.
- An ethical trait of faithfulness and devotion for our loved ones, friends, and anyone we have a trusted friendship with. Loyalty to an employer community, and our country.
- Respectfulness to treat others and ourselves with courtesy, dignity, and civility to all people we encounter.
- Kindness to be considerate and helpful to others.
- Optimism to lend a sense of hopefulness and confidence about the future to others.
- Lovingness to express deeply the love we have for others.
- Reliability to be consistently dependable to follow through on any and all commitments, actions and decisions. What we do and say - we will do.
- Encouraging others that will offer hope, strength, and positive reinforcement to others. This reflects our ability to understand and care for others.
- Responsibility to follow through on all commitments.
- Humility, that gives us a confident yet modest opinion of our own self/importance. This trait propels us to be grateful for all that we have.
- Compassion that allows us to feel deep sympathy for those suffering, or are less fortunate. This will move us to help others in their suffering and maybe to alleviate it.
- Fairness allows us to make decisions and take actions based on the ultimate course or outcome for all involved.
- Forgiveness so we can let go of resentment and anger we may have toward someone who offended us.
- Authenticity to be real and true to self.
- Courageous in spite of fear of danger, discomfort or pain.
- Generosity so we can be willing to offer time, energy, efforts, emotions, words, or assets without expectation of something in return.
- Perseverance to be steadfast in persistence.
- Politeness to reflect good manners and common courtesies.
Now we can examine our own hearts to see how we measure up to these listed examples of integrity and character.
But we can pray and ask God which ones we are lacking in, and believe He will teach us and train us to have them. But the Bible teaches us about these in Job who was a great man of God that we can learn from him. He truly was a man of both integrity and character.
So I thank you Lord that we all can be children of our King to have these attributes and it will be a witness of who God is in us, that by exhibiting these traits it would promote people to want what we have - a life of salvation in Jesus.
Thank you Lord for helping us with this and for transforming and conforming us daily, to be more like You Jesus. We ask this in Your Name Jesus!!
Lucy Barretta
The On God Blog
Posted in I Will Not Settle