Introduction

Around 2015 or so, I had a dream. In this dream a man came to me and said, “Charles, you need to practice integrity.” Then it ended like that.

This came as a shock to me because I had always pictured myself as an honest man of integrity. In fact, if you had asked any of my friends and family they would have said, ‘Charles has integrity.’ But as I woke up, I realised something, I didn’t really know what integrity was. I had always assumed I had it, but what is integrity exactly? I didn’t know what it was, and I soon realised that many christians also don’t know what it is.

Since the Lord had come to correct me on that area, I set out to find out what integrity was, and when I did, I realised that I surely was not practising integrity in every area of my life. What I leant changed my life forever. This teaching is a testimony to share what I leant about integrity. I believe it will be a blessing to you, and I pray, your life is transformed by it, just as mine was.

What is Integrity?

A lot of people think that having integrity means being good or being honest. While these things can sometimes be associated with integrity, they are not integrity in themselves. Integrity can exist despite people’s perceptions of good and evil. A person who is perceived as being bad can have integrity while a person perceived as being good, can lack integrity while doing that ‘good’ thing.

So what is it?

The word integrity comes from the latin word, Integer. We know this from maths. It means whole or complete. The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes integrity as:

1. Adhering to a code of especially moral or artistic principles
2. An unimpaired condition
3. The quality of state of being complete and undivided. 

In simple terms, integrity refers to the consistency between what you believe is right, and what you do.

Let me give an example:

Let’s say, you believe that giving money to street kids is wrong, because you are convinced that it fosters a begging mentality and keeps kids in the streets. Yet when you meet street kids with your friends, and you see your friends giving them money, you also give street kids money because you are afraid that people will think you are a bad person.

Though you have done a perceived “good” thing, you have not exercised integrity. You have no integrity because you don’t act according to what you believe is right.

On the other hand, you can have a second person, who also believes that giving street kids money is wrong, and every time they meet street kids, they refuse to give them money, even when people say they are heartless. That person has integrity, whether or not people may think he is good or bad.

Integrity and honesty

Honesty is a good part of integrity, but a person can be honest and still lack integrity. Honesty is truthfulness.

Let’s go back to our street kids example.
You don’t believe in giving street kids money, but when you are in public you give them because you are concerned about that people will think you are a bad person.

One of your friends sees you giving money to a street kid and says, “Hey, didn’t you use to tell me that you don’t believe in giving street kids money”
Then you reply, “Yes that’s true, I don’t believe it’s good, but I just give them anyway because I get embarrassed in public”
You admit because you are honest, but you still lack integrity because you don’t abide by what you believe is right.

I have met people who steal and are honest about it. They know it’s wrong but they will tell you,
“If you leave your money laying around, I will take it, and I won’t give it back. I know it’s wrong, I know it’s stealing, but hey, everyone steals. I gotta do what I gotta do to survive.”

Some people are honest about their shortcomings. They practice something they know and believe is wrong, but they can be honest about it.

Personal Example

In my case, I had grown up in a church that had a set of belief systems, and when I began to study the bible, my belief systems changed. I no longer believed that sabbath was an issue of salvation. I no longer believed that eating pork is a sin. However, I continued to live and practice my old beliefs, even though I no longer believed in them, and in many ways it was so as ‘not to offend’ people.

As someone who worked in the entertainment industry, there are certain phrases and things that I would say, because everyone was saying them, though privately I believed those things were wrong and did not apply to me. I realised that God wanted me to be a positive influence to those around me, but every time I just acted or spoke to ‘please people’ or to fit in, I was no longer spreading the light, and was like salt that had lost its saltiness. God wanted me to practice, and speak the things that I believed to be true, 100 percent of the time.

This is difficult because in our African culture, we are sometimes trained to value politeness over truth. People will rather smile and agree with you when you are there, and when you are gone, tell people how everything you were saying was wrong. That is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the opposite of integrity.

In order to have integrity, you must be honest to yourself, and honest to others. Even if it costs you your reputation. Say things that you believe are right, not what you believe people want to hear. Do things that you believe are right, not what you think people want you to do. Have integrity.

Bible Example

The apostle Peter was a great man of integrity. He always seemed to be getting rebuked by Jesus. This is because Peter was not a hypocrite and did not pretend. He did and said what he believed in his heart to be true. This allowed Jesus to correct and build him, and I believe it’s one of the reasons Jesus chose him to lead the early church. Paul also was a man of integrity when he was still a pharisee who served the law and remained a man of integrity when he became an apostle.

However, we have an example of when Peter acted without integrity, and Paul rebuked him immediately and publicly.
Paul recounts the story here:

Galatians 2:11-14 New International Version (NIV)

11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

Peter (Cephas) clearly knew and believed that eating with the gentiles was good and that salvation is by faith, and that we are not under the law. However, in order to avoid offending the brethren who were Judaizers, he started acting against what he himself believed was right. He was being a hypocrite, meaning he was not acting with integrity. Paul rebuked him in front of all.

Extra Lesson

Note that Paul did not pretend to agree with what Peter was doing, for the sake of maintaining “false peace.” I call it ‘false peace’ because it’s a peace that’s based on a lie and not truth. Where people smile on the outside but are bitter, resentful and unsettled on the inside. Pretending to agree would have exacerbated a false conception and false teaching. They spoke in the open, and Peter being a humble man, accepted correction because he knew he was wrong. It took a lot of humility for Peter to remain quiet and accept correction from this younger apostle.

A lot of times I will ask christians to comment on something, and they will tell me what they think I want to hear, rather than what they actually believe. It’s sad.

I was in a certain WhatsApp group where I was teaching on false prophets and how to identify them. A prominent prophet who leads a church, was also in that group, and he responded to my teaching by saying, “So do you believe, I am a false prophet” I replied, “Yes, I believe you are a false prophet.” He was livid.

But when he asked me why I thought he was a false prophet, I gave him teaching from the bible that led me to that conclusion. He responded by saying that my son would die in 30 days, as proof that he was a true prophet.

He said, “if I be a prophet of God, your son shall surely die.” I said, “Since when does Jesus start proving his prophets in the church, by killing little children. Did he not say, that the devil comes to kill, steal and to destroy, but I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” His prophecy did not come to pass. God did not allow it.

I am convinced that the response I gave, is the same kind of response that Jesus, Peter, Paul, Elijah, Daniel, Moses, John the Baptist and all the great men of integrity, would have given to a person whom they believed was a false prophet. They taught what they believed to be true, whether or not people were pleased by it.

Conclusion

Integrity is the ability to be honest to yourself and to others. The ability to do and speak according to what you yourself believe is right. To act according to your own convictions without being corrupted to go start doing, saying and agreeing to things that you believe are wrong. Our convictions can change as we grow in the word and in spirit, that is good, and when they change, we must have integrity in our new convictions.

Integrity is not a passport to be rude. It’s not a passport to be rebellious. The book of Daniel gives us the stories of Shadrack, Misheck, Abednigo and Daniel himself. These men were placed in situations where they were forced to act against their beliefs. They remained respectful and polite but refused to do things that they themselves thought were wrong. They acted and spoke politely, and respectfully, but remaining honest to what they believed was right. They did not go around challenging authorities, or creating unnecessary arguments but when asked about their convictions, they did not pretend to agree with things that they believed were wrong, just to maintain false peace. Don’t have different faces for different people.

Always have room to learn new things and to grow in understanding, but If you are currently convinced that something is right, then act and speak according to that, whether or not people may judge you or attack you. That is integrity.