"Integrity means that you will do good when no one is watching." This is what one of our grade one students shared in their journal this past week.
There is a host of ways we can think of integrity and many ways to define it, but at the heart of the word, is the kernel of honesty. I wonder if some of us think of integrity as doing the right things, or even to a more basic level 'to behave'. While this may be the case, we need also to acknowledge that we are a broken and fallen people. We mess up. Often. So what happens when we do? What does integrity look like when we fall short of acting in the right way or doing the right thing?
Many of you reading this will be familiar with the cartoon characters that pace about, trying to make a decision. On one shoulder sits a devil, and the other an angel, each whispering their encouragement to decide. Without making our day-to-day decisions too trivial, one step toward integrity is acknowledging that God is there to encourage and support our decisions.
Thankfully, God meets us at whatever point we are in our Christian walk. Paul outlines his own journey in his letter to the Galatians, and that struggle: Galatians 1:10 "Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant." So even in a Christian community, we will find ourselves struggling with what is right.
The wisdom shared by the grade one student is apt here. Who are we trying to please? Ourselves? Others? What would God have us do?
If we are honest, we will need to acknowledge wrongdoing. We will also need to acknowledge that at times we twist and use others to our own benefit.
How, then, do we teach integrity to our students, and in the school community? We remind one another that we need to be forgiven, and we also extend forgiveness with encouragement to live for Christ, not for others. Integrity is continuing to grow in our choices so that they remain honest, no matter who is watching.
Proverbs 21:3 "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."
There is a host of ways we can think of integrity and many ways to define it, but at the heart of the word, is the kernel of honesty. I wonder if some of us think of integrity as doing the right things, or even to a more basic level 'to behave'. While this may be the case, we need also to acknowledge that we are a broken and fallen people. We mess up. Often. So what happens when we do? What does integrity look like when we fall short of acting in the right way or doing the right thing?
Many of you reading this will be familiar with the cartoon characters that pace about, trying to make a decision. On one shoulder sits a devil, and the other an angel, each whispering their encouragement to decide. Without making our day-to-day decisions too trivial, one step toward integrity is acknowledging that God is there to encourage and support our decisions.
Thankfully, God meets us at whatever point we are in our Christian walk. Paul outlines his own journey in his letter to the Galatians, and that struggle: Galatians 1:10 "Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant." So even in a Christian community, we will find ourselves struggling with what is right.
The wisdom shared by the grade one student is apt here. Who are we trying to please? Ourselves? Others? What would God have us do?
If we are honest, we will need to acknowledge wrongdoing. We will also need to acknowledge that at times we twist and use others to our own benefit.
How, then, do we teach integrity to our students, and in the school community? We remind one another that we need to be forgiven, and we also extend forgiveness with encouragement to live for Christ, not for others. Integrity is continuing to grow in our choices so that they remain honest, no matter who is watching.
Proverbs 21:3 "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."
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