Integrity Restrains Us

Solomon wrote, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23). It is another way of telling us to guard our integrity. Your integrity is your most valuable possession, and once it is lost—it is not easy to get it back.

If you detect that you are prone to veer from the path of honesty in some reaction of self-preservation when faced with a trial, ask God for help. Seek his guidance, and do not ignore a deadly problem that will only worsen with time. You cannot extinguish what you cannot distinguish. You have to acknowledge the problem before you can work on it. You cannot change something you have not identified. Go to work on your weaknesses before they cause your downfall.

It’s never too late to do the right thing. No matter how far you are into a decision, if you realize it is wrong, take immediate action to reverse it. Cut your losses and run the other way. It’s never too late to do the right thing! From the moment you begin to do the right thing, you are changing your life, even if you don’t see the immediate effects of your decision. It may take a while before you feel whole again, but you will be on the right road.

No sin or mistake is made in isolation. It will cost you and the people around you. When we forget God, we forget the world around us. Someone will pay the price beside us when we venture away from our integrity and fail to guard our hearts. Our testimony before the world will suffer credibility. Our dependence on God helps us protect our hearts and maintain our testimony to the world.