Integrity: Addressing the Shortage
By Thomson K. Mathew, D.Min., Ed.D.
Dean, ORU School of Theology and Missions

Scandalous allegations are everywhere these days: "A city bribes the International Olympic Committee to host the winter games!" "Judges fix the gold medals long before the competitions begin!" Whether these accusations are correct or not is hardly germain; the possibility of their being true is disturbing in and of itself. The leaders of the seventh largest corporation in the country, Enron, are accused of exploiting its employees and investors in scandalous trading practices, and each leader pleads the fifth before congressional committees! To date, there has not been one businessperson in that company to stand up and confess personal mistakes!

It is undeniable that there is a shortage of integrity in America today. This should concern all citizens, especially those of us who are called to impact every person's world. Psychologists and theologians agree that integrity is the highest level of human character, and that it is hard to sustain hope in a place without integrity.

Erik Erikson, the famous social psychologist, wrote of human life moving through eight stages. A person faces a crisis at each stage of life. He is healthy if he overcomes the crisis, and suffers the consequences if he does not master the crisis. The first crisis in life, according to Erikson, is one of dealing with trust vs. mistrust. The last one - the eighth - is the crisis of integrity vs. despair.

Erikson is saying that only those who have integrity can live and die in hope. Integrity allows one to speak the truth. It makes one's words and deeds become congruent. It promotes love and unselfishness. Integrity makes people trustworthy. According to the Word of God, all Christians should be living examples of integrity. Unfortunately, integrity is not always found even among professing Christians. What a tragedy! It is time to talk about integrity in the body of Christ.

The Bible says that our "yes" should be yes, and our "no" should be no. The Pharisees were experts in external religion and Jesus was not soft on them. We today face the same temptation to keep our faith external and our Christian differences superficial.

I am not calling us to turn the tables of the Enron executives, but I do believe that the Lord is calling us to be people of integrity. He is calling us to practice our faith in all areas of our lives. It is time to examine our own lives. We may not be bribing the Olympic Committee fleecing stockholders and pensioners, but we also face many temptations to violate integrity.

People with integrity do not say one thing and do another. People with integrity do not plagiarize. People with integrity do not violate confidentiality. People with integrity do not blame others for personal failures. People with integrity do not exploit others.

We, as Spirit-filled people, can and should model integrity. We must demonstrate that Christ has truly transformed our lives. Our faith should not be limited to our vocabulary. A life of faith is a life of integrity. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were known as doers of the Word rather than hearers of the same?

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