Integrity: The Importance of a Good Name
Many years ago, I was driving through the town I grew up in with my mother in the front seat and my sister in the back seat. I was driving too fast. My mother (the “prophetess”) spoke evil into my life! As soon as the words came out of her mouth, “You are going too fast,” the blue lights came on behind us.
My sister thought it was the greatest moment of her life! I did not. The officer took my license and registration. When he came back to the car, he asked me one question: “Are you Roger Pauley’s son?”
For a moment, I wondered if he knew my dad before he came to the Lord or after. “Yes sir,” I replied. He smiled and handed my license back to me. “Slow it down and have a good day.”
I was reaping rewards from my father‘s integrity. It was one of the first moments in my young life that I realized how important a good name could be!
A Good Name
“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.” Proverbs 22:1
I have always been grateful for our family name. If I were pressed to say the one thing that I most admire about my father, there is no question what it would be. Integrity. My dad is a man of integrity. Both my dad and mom have lived lives of integrity and have given my sister and me a wonderful heritage. The longer I live, the more I understand the words of Proverbs 20:7, “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” Young people often enjoy blessings not because of their own choices but because of the integrity of those who have gone before them.
A Good Name Rather Than Great Riches
Increase is a poor substitute for integrity. John D. Rockefeller said, “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” Andrew Carnegie famously observed, “Millionaires seldom smile.” Henry Ford reported after tremendous success in business that he was happier when he was doing a mechanic’s job. John Jacob Astor declared, “I am the most miserable man on earth.”
Riches may be lost, but integrity must be surrendered. If a man loses his integrity, no one will take it from him – he will give it up. Proverbs 19:1 teaches us, “Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool.”
A very wise salesman was once asked why he did not take shortcuts in his business dealings. Surely no one will ever know. His response was full of integrity: “I will know.” More importantly, God knows.
Another young businessman was tempted to conduct his business in an unethical way. When he refused, his business was boycotted by powerful people and was eventually forced to close. He encountered a host of personal disappointments. In the 1929 stock crash, he lost 40 million dollars. At 56 years of age, he sat in a sanatorium struggling to make sense of it all. Early one morning he heard a kitchen worker singing, “Be not afraid, what ‘ere betide. God will take care of you.” At that moment, all became clear, and he recommitted his life to Jesus Christ. The one store that he started in 1907 in Wyoming would grow to become 1400 stores. His name was J.C. Penney.
Money is fleeting. Only integrity lasts. A good name, a life of integrity, is worth more than great riches. Do right and believe that God will take care of you.
Men of Integrity in the Bible
The word integrity means “whole, complete.” The majority of times it is used in Scripture, it is found in the poetical books of the Bible – the heart books. It is a matter of the heart.
Job is most remembered as a man who held his integrity. He stated in Job 27:5-6: “Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live“.
David spoke of it in his writings. We know many things about David. He was the Shepherd King of Israel, the man after God’s own heart. It is interesting to note how the Lord spoke of him to his son. In 1 Kings 9:4 we read, “And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:”
Perhaps Solomon said it best when he wrote, “The integrity of the upright shall guide them” (Proverbs 11:3). Your integrity provides direction for all of life’s decisions.
Integrity is Intentional
Integrity does not depend on circumstance or the actions of others. It is a choice. Men of integrity are not always famous, but they are well-known to God.
Integrity is not a product of environment or natural ability. Imagine an orphan boy who struggled academically. He was socially awkward and uncoordinated. When he spoke, it was in a high-pitched voice. Yet he became a man renowned for his integrity. It is reported that once in the middle of the night, he went to a student whom he had offended to ask for forgiveness. We know him as Stonewall Jackson.
What would you expect of a young man whose mother became an adulteress and his father died insane? He was small for his age, sickly. All of his life, he was accident-prone and spoke with a speech impediment. Yet his words have become famous: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.” His name is Winston Churchill.
It was integrity that caused General Stonewall Jackson to walk in the middle of the night to the house of a student he had offended just to apologize. It was integrity that spoke through Winston Churchill, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.” Integrity made J.C. Penney refuse to be dishonest in his business dealings, even if it cost him a fortune.
Integrity is a heart matter. It is a choice. No accidents will make men of integrity. They choose to do right on purpose. In our world, integrity is uncommon. Lying, stealing, broken promises, and unfaithfulness have become the order of the day. Only men of integrity can please God and be an example to others.
Integrity is Indispensible
“Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity” (Job 31:6).
It is rarely spoken of today, perhaps because it is in such short supply. Yet integrity is indispensable. A building cannot last without structural integrity, and neither can a life.
Integrity is a long-term building project – built over a lifetime, broken down in a moment. No one can take your integrity, but you can give it up. In a day of lies, unfaithfulness, and broken promises, it is a refreshing and challenging thing to meet a person of integrity.
Integrity is living every moment in the presence of a God of integrity. A God who is always true and always keeps His word. He never changes.
I am glad to be Roger Pauley’s son and grateful to be a son of the most High God. I want to be more like my father and even more like my Heavenly Father. Our generation needs people of integrity.
Joseph Lived with Integrity. Study his life HERE.
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