The Sad Supply of Integrity … Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment. —Proverbs 12:19

Good Morning Hump Day friends! This last week’s news no matter where you lived on this planet, was conflicting in so many ways. Good bad, or bad good or—the easier way to sum it up is in one word: Integrity … and sadly, the loss of it.

Every news station does their “fact checkers” – not sure what kind of “truth filters” they use but just when it seems that “this must be true” we find out the person or persons is now going to be indicted, or is under scrutiny or – you can fill in the latest you’ve probably just heard or read in one single day.

Integrity is in sad supply, and the saddest part of it is the legacy that it leaves for all of us. It tears apart solid truth and gives us the deadly “kool-aid of relative truth” which destroys the very fabric of our nation/world and each person’s life. Think of the impact on young hearts and minds – talk about being confused!

Reminds me of a the somewhat-funny fishing story that’s been around quite a while. (I know my dad had his funny versions of this that he would share with folks at our resort where “fishing lies” abounded.) You’ve probably heard it before but it bears repeating because it has a very profound message to us today.

One day a guy was “on the outs” with his wife. After a snarky argument, he decided to smooth things over by telling his wife he’d go fishing and bring home her favorite catch. We could say with “Tongue-in-cheek”— she took the bait! She said she’d look forward to a good fish dinner to make a bad day much better. Now the subterfuge begins: he made a big deal of packing up all the needed fishing gear, loaded it in the truck and headed—not for the lake—but to the local market that had fresh fish daily! He picked out three fat beauties of his wife’s favorite fish, impressed with his idea. The butcher was getting ready to wrap them up when he stopped him and said, “wait, toss me each fish, one by one.” Taken aback, the butcher asked “what for—ya’ checking to see if they’re fresh or what?” “No,” the man replied, “toss them to me so I can tell my wife I actually caught them.” Undoubtedly the butcher laughed and complied (probably others seeing this joined in as well).

Wow—talk about integrity?! No one has ever wrapped up the story to find out whether or not he got caught, but that’s not the moral of the story, is it? After an argument with your spouse, adding another falsehood to smooth over that argument is a complete loss of integrity. Using the butcher to toss him the fish may get a laugh. In fact, some may say “smart dude” but in the end, playing with half-truths and technicalities can only last so long. Pretty soon you’re adding more lies to cover the other lies that … well, suffice it to say your “house of cards” is going to get blown away.

Yet, these kinds of actions play fast and loose today, and many buy right into it. Some tout their ability to play fast and loose with words and actions, as if it’s nothing more than a monopoly game! To them the most important thing is to “look good” or “show folks your prowess and power” so people can think highly of them. They forget that the “reputation they desire is not more important than their integrity.”

Throughout the Scriptures we are warned of this kind of “integrity juggling.” You can think of quite a few characters, Moses, King Saul, King David, Haman, Absalom, Pharisees, Sadducees, and on it goes, that played with these “recipes for disaster.” It never ended well and it never will. Some, like Moses and King David, realized those “recipes” were deadly, but for many others God’s consequences for their lack of integrity were harsh.

The truth is: Honesty IS the best policy, period! Living with integrity will only work when we embrace this timely attitude and work on keeping our conscience clear and being truthful in our words and our actions—in everything situation.

We all have losses in life, but integrity is not a commodity you can buy and sell and buy back again. Losing your integrity will lose your reputation and then everything else goes downhill as well. It’s not hard to find this loss of integrity today. Sadly it has invaded every vocation and institution, even the church. Some never rebound and never come back … they just fade away into their broken “house of cards.” However, their legacy of deception and deceit continues to spoil lives for decades to come.

Friends—keep yourself on solid ground. Stick to the truth of Christ, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and the power of Almighty God…it is in this ‘Triune safety net’ you may still incur some “shaking” in your life but you will not be shaken to the point of coming undone!!