1 Oh, let me sing about faithful love and justice!
I want to sing my praises to you, Lord!
2 I want to study the way of integrity—
how long before it gets here?
I will walk with a heart of integrity
in my own house.
Reflection
Integrity is an important virtue in the Bible’s wisdom books, particularly in the psalms. It’s the quality of truthfulness, faithfulness, and willingness to sacrifice for the sake of principle that differentiates the righteous from others.
The psalmist promises not only to “study the way of integrity,” but to “walk with a heart of integrity.” In these two promises, we hear what integrity requires: not just right thinking, but right actions; not just right words, but right deeds. Contrary to the way many Christians live, we don’t study the way in order to endlessly debate it, or to continually argue about its smallest nuances, but rather so that we can walk in it.
Integrity is the place where the principles of the mind and heart meet our lived experience. We show what we believe by how we exercise our faith in the midst of life’s messiness. The choices are seldom as clear as we might hope. But every once in a while, God gives us a clear message. When we have studied God’s way, the road we need to walk will be revealed to us. Our heart, mind, and spirit will align to follow God’s leading.
Sometimes it will mean making hard choices. Because sometimes we’re required to prove our principles by our willingness to sacrifice for them.
We study the way for one reason: so that we can walk in it – with integrity.
by Joe Monahan
For Pondering & Prayer
Has God been gently prompting you to act on a spiritual principle? To walk in a way that’s more closely aligned with your faith? What does integrity require of you today?
Prayer: God, help us to daily study the way so that we can walk with integrity. Help us to hear you when we need to make the hard decisions to put our principles into practice. Give us the courage to make the sacrifices that faith sometimes requires. Amen.
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