Proverbs to Live By—Walk in Integrity

“Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.” –Proverbs 10:9.  “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.” –Proverbs 11:3.

In outlining the book of Proverbs, from 1:8 through 9:18 is summed up in a father’s invitation to his son to follow wisdom.  Within these chapters are paternal appeals to the son to avoid the sins of the flesh such as greed, sexual immorality, and discord.  Throughout these chapters wisdom is held up as a very lofty aspiration to follow, and is personified to make wisdom more personal and desirable to obtain.  Then there follows in Proverbs 10:1 through 22:16 a collection of proverbs of Solomon, each complete in itself and written in the familiar genre of Hebrew poetic parallelism for emphasis.  That is, parallelism will present the good way, followed by an opposite and poor or bad way.  Many subjects are covered in these verses, and all are important, all are significant for the lifestyle they advocate and the appeals they make to upright living.  From the many given, today’s emphasis is on walking in integrity.

Integrity is an interesting word.  It stems from the root “integrite” which means “whole,” or “not divided into parts.”  From the root come not only integrate but the noun integrity, the latter meaning a firm and unwavering adherence to sound values and a set of strong morals.  Incorruptibility, soundness and completeness are synonyms.  Solomon in his wisdom said positively, that the person who walks in integrity is secure; he does not have to fear being found out.  His ways are above reproach.  On the other hand, to veer from a pathway of integrity and follow crooked, underhanded ways will assure that the person will “be found out,” or his devious ways will be discovered.  To emphasize further the importance of integrity in the life of a person, another proverb on the subject, stated a little differently, follows closely upon the first statement about integrity.  It, too, is very to the point:  integrity is a sure guide but crookedness leads to destruction.

Unfortunately, we live in a day when integrity is sometimes foreign in society’s dealings.  We see deception and corruption in all walks of life.  “Whom can you trust?”  is often a question on our lips and a thought, even though sometimes not expressed aloud.  We see the lack of integrity in government leaders and persons in authority in business.  There is hardly a social strata or an area of relationship where the plight of deception does not touch, degrade and destroy.  Even families are destroyed because of absence of integrity.  As used in the proverbs cited, integrity means “faithfulness and trustworthiness.”  And in order to walk in integrity, as Solomon advised, a definite decision must be made to do so.  Integrity is a choice.  “I will walk in faithfulness; I will be trustworthy; I will avoid corruption; I will seek a way of life that is truthful, sincere and sound.  I will walk in a morally upright path.” One thing we detect quickly as we read Proverbs carefully is that the emphasis is again and again upon following goodness and diligence and the blessings that attend an upright lifestyle.  Likewise, the proverbs point out the penalties that follow a lifestyle of sin.  It’s somewhat like knowing “these truths are self-evident.”  They follow the common sense choices of life.  But at the same time we need to be reminded that there is a high road and a low road to follow, and the choice is ours.  The joy of knowing Jesus makes it so much easier for us to choose integrity over corruption.  The Spirit of the living God is ever present with us, helping us to make the right choices.  And, yes, thank God, to help us live a life of integrity.