Friday, September 9, 2011

Integrity

I had to take a day or two off because I was going into the Creek early and I wanted to choke some people. It's always a good idea to walk away, instead of choke someone right off the bat! It allows for a cooling off period and then Preacher man can peel me off the ceiling.   
I am trying to be included in the Faithful Bloggers group, and in order to do that you submit your info and I think they come check out your blog to see if it's worthy to have the words "Faithful Blogger" stamped on it. In the process of waiting, I have been checking out some of the founders prompts and came across one written on integrity, so I thought it might be cool to see what that might mean to y'all. Even if you don't share your thoughts with me, you know I'm going to share mine with you, so I guess you could say...You have been warned!
What does integrity look like to you? I thought the best place to start was my handy dandy dictionary app on my iPhone. This is what it said; adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. Wow, that says a lot, but I think I want to add somethings to it!
I think a good place to start is with honesty. People of integrity are honest. To me, that means they tell the truth, even if it hurts. It doesn't mean they have no filter and run around speaking the truth with no love! 
Moral character is the same as morally upright. You don't expect a person of integrity to be involved in pornography or adultery. I also think they would have principles and would stick with them all the time, not just on Sunday or when everyone is looking. In the dark and when no one is looking, that's where the rubber hits the road. It's a consistency in who they are at all times.
Responsible is a notable characteristic to me too. Along with that goes dependable. I believe  if I tell you I'm going to meet you at noon, them you can bet your bottom dollar, I'm going to be there by noon! 
One of the last things that I can think of right now is a person of integrity gives credit where credit is due. When Preacher man say's something that I really like and I put it in my blog, I give him credit. You have seen that I use the works of Steve Harper, St Ignatius and David Benner to name a few. I always give them credit, because I was taught that not to would be plagiarizing! That means the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. Aka stealing!     

I heard once that someone in a church said they didn't have any original ideas, they got all their stuff from other churches. Well, you should give those other churches credit, at the very least don't take credit for the idea yourself.
These are some of the things that come to mind when I think of integrity. I can honestly say, I have not always been a person of high integrity. I can also say that I use to think that there was more than one way to get to God. Now I know better, the only way to the father is through the son. I know what integrity looks like, and after you know what it looks like, you really can't say you never knew. 

1 comment:

Preacher man said...

ouch, better make sure I have a notes page at the bottom of my sermon in case I forget to give credit where credit is due.