To live a life of integrity you live not by default but by design. For the Christians, that design is set out in Proverbs 3: 5-6; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
To be a leader, you are sensitized to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. You stop thinking about what you can achieve and instead think about what you can contribute. I enjoy the word “imperturbability”. What does it mean? Grace under pressure. When stress rushes in, my prayer is that I can exhibit something of God’s grace. Practicing the Christian faith is always a mixture of grit and grace. Grit is that tenacity that outweighs the adversity in which I find myself immersed.
When I make a time commitment, I try hard to be on time, start on time, and end on time. I believe that too is an expression of integrity. Pastors attend hundreds of meetings ever year. Integrity surfaces in how we use our time. There are 168 hours in every week. The Bible says we are to redeem the time. Most of us spend upwards of forty hours a week in front of a screen of some kind. By any stretch of the imagination can we label screen time as redeeming the time? There are ninety-six fifteen minute blocks in every day. I try not to waste fifteen minutes at any time during my waking hours. Time is not only a precious commodity but also a gift of God.
Hopefully, integrity shines through in our stewardship, work ethic, worship, compassion, and expressions of forgiveness. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” The Bible does not say pick one! As Christians, we are to exhibit all nine of the characteristics of the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
Blessings!
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