What Profits A Person With Integrity

In this article, we talk about a character trait that, for me, may not be essential to getting the job done but certainly impacts the way you get the job done and how it creates either a culture of trust or of cutthroat singlemindedness.

Once again, Dr. Rogelio Balo PhD lends me a hand in explaining this below.

*Integrity is defined as the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values.

*In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions.?Integrity?can stand in opposition to?hypocrisy,?in that judging with the standards of integrity involves regarding internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding within themselves apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs. *Wikipedia

There are 40 verses in the Bible talking about Integrity, a few of them are highlighted below:

Proverbs 19:1

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

Proverbs 20:7

Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.

Samuel 22:26

?God demands our loyalty. He seeks people who put him first above everything and everyone else in their life: To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity. One of the rewards of integrity is pleasing the heart of God.

Why Do So Many People Lack Integrity?

It is without doubt that the lack of integrity is widespread in our society.

An old adage indicated that “what determines our level of integrity is how we THINK. Further, the saying stressed that when we are addicted to thinking thoughts that create fear, we may end up behaving in ways that lack integrity”.

Having learned this, I believe that the integrity in people is dictated by the kind of thoughts that they have. The intermixing negative and positive thoughts about ourselves and our environment greatly affect our level of integrity.

if people base their?thoughts?on truth and compassion rather than on fear , then we will have a society with integrity.?But as long as people operate under the false belief that happiness anchors in having what they want specifically material things rather than in what they want to be as a productive member of society, then integrity is farfetched. Only when people finally realize that deep inner peace and joy comes from being consonant with their inner personal and spiritual values will they act with integrity, consistently.

The Massive Loss of Integrity in the US and the World

In his book “The Death of Integrity in America” Don Koenig stressed, “ The root causes of the lack of integrity in the US?is obviously selfishness and having no empathy or love for others. Many people just no longer care what their own actions do to others. It is all about "me" and that is why this is called the "me generation". No matter where you look you will see that there is very little integrity in America anymore. You can hardly trust anyone. With a nation filled with people with no integrity how can such a nation remain great? It cannot. America is now in great decline and we see that in every new "progressive" position she now embraces.”

I have reasons to believe that this is true. Loss of integrity have invaded all sectors of our society. Unbelievable but true, the loss of integrity have seeped through the grapevine of our society including the "men of God" who almost everybody thinks to be above such but apparently many are not.

Is There Integrity In Politics ?

Many political pundits opined that all over the world, both local and national politicians with integrity are “rarer than diamonds” We all understand that most if not all, nowadays politicians are not to serve?their constituents but actually after the political power and material gains which are extremely intoxicating.?In order to get elected, most politicians resort to lies, hypocrisy and?deceit, with integrity a far thing from their minds. This is in absolute contrast to the Important virtues of dignified politicians, which are faithfulness, humility. and accountability.

The Payoff of?Integrity

There is satisfying rewards for those who walk in integrity, with reference to the Holy Bible.

Proverbs 20:7?says “The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him. “

Now that is a great reward. That means that people who walk in integrity will be blessed with good physical, mental and?spiritual health?and gain socially and financially.?

Often than not, the question is how much does integrity means to a person. Would someone be willing to lose friends falsely accused?because he or she?is?truthful, honest and live in integrity.?

When?a person is known as one of integrity, his reputation as a trusted person will be etched in stone. But a dishonest person who lacks integrity will surface out and eventually reap shame and disgrace in the end, these being?by products of dishonesty and deceit.

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Regidor Roque Ph.D.

October 14, 2021