In a world full of lies, deception, and hypocrisy, it is becoming rare to find people with integrity. Some people don’t value integrity anymore. They would rather enjoy the convenience of compromising their values rather than standing up for what’s right.

Samuel is among the most well-known biblical characters in the Bible. He is known for a lot of things, but most people might not be familiar with the integrity of his heart. In this post, let us explore what it takes to have integrity and apply this understanding in our own lives.

A man of Integrity

There is no doubt that the people of Israel sawSamuel as a man of God. I Samuel 3:20 tells us, “All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD”.

Part of his work as a prophet is to be a judge. The integrity of Samuel as a judge is something we need to take note of. Remember that his sons and the sons of Eli are all corrupt. They have polluted the judgment of God with bribery.

Samuel stood out as someone whom you can trust and expect that he will always give a fair judgment. We can read in I Samuel 12:3-4:

“Here I am. If I have done anything wrong, accuse me now in the presence of the LORD and the king he has chosen. Have I taken anybody’s cow or anybody’s donkey? Have I cheated or oppressed anyone? Have I accepted a bribe from anyone? If I have done any of these things, I will pay back what I have taken. The people answered, ‘No, you have not cheated us or oppressed us; you have not taken anything from anyone.’ “

Samuel earned the reputation that he will consistently give a fair judgment. People respected him and hold him in high regards because of the integrity of his heart. Though people may try to bribe him, they will only fail because Samuel has already established in his heart that he will never corrupt his office nor betray the trust of God.

Defining integrity

Integrity simply means doing the right thing no matter what. It came from the Hebrew word, tome, which means completeness, morally innocent, and upright. Living with integrity is living in such a way that if someone spoke badly about you, no one would believe it because your integrity will defend you.

There are interesting quotes about integrity that I want to share with you.

• People with good intentions make promises but people with integrity keep them.
• Integrity is doing what is right, not doing what is easy.
• Integrity is making sure that the things you do and the things you say are in agreement.
• Success without integrity is nothing.
• There is no better test of a man’s integrity than his behavior when he is wrong.

Now think of those quotes I listed above. Can you think of people who meet those description? Today, we can surely say that there is a shortage of people of integrity. We look to our government, society, and even in religious organizations. We could see people who have been bought with money and have exchanged their integrity for worldly treasures.

The Book of Proverbs has a lot to say about Integrity and these are some of them:

• “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out” (Proverbs 10:9).
• “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways” (Proverbs 28:6).
• “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them” (Proverbs 11:3).

Infusing Integrity in our being

There is no doubt that being a Christian requires us to walk in integrity. We will never serve as an effective light of the world if people can’t trust us. We can’t influence other people if we easily compromise our godly principle.

We need to live our lives to the point that integrity is how people define us before their very eyes.

God cannot use a person without integrity. Just like Samuel, we ought to be a person of integrity who consistently live up to the expectation of God. We need to live our lives to the point that integrity is how people define us before their very eyes.

We know that integrity can’t be bought. Even if you have all the money in the world, you can never buy integrity. This is the main reason that we must never exchange our integrity for wealth, fame, personal gain, or favor. These are all worthless compared to integrity. King Solomon said, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1).

God has a better reward for those people who live in integrity and that reward is way better than anything else this world could offer. Therefore, choose to live with integrity and you will never go wrong with that choice!