Former senator Alan Simpson introduced President Gerald Ford at Harvard University by saying, “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”
Private virtue, integrity, is the inner compass that maintains our direction. Without direction, the circles in which we travel eventually lead to heartbreak. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to sin no more. He wanted to alter her inner compass. Integrity helps us maintain a monogamous relationship, just as it keeps us walking forward in all of life’s endeavors. Our core competence is the result of Christ in us. (Gal. 2:20)
Integrity demands a focus on truth. Christian truth is not determined by a Church or denomination. Jesus is truth. Our focus is on the principles He taught, not the spin developed by men with an agenda. The cornerstone of a church building may read “Est. A.D. 33” and be occupied by the Unitarian Universalist Church. Church marquees tell little about what is inside. That’s why we must look intently for the Spirit of Christ, not the name above a door.
A life filled with integrity seeks ultimate truth. This is truth beyond the quibbles that divide churches. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17: 25-26). Spiritual integrity elevates what God considers important, not our personal issues. The longest recorded prayer of Jesus requested unity of believers, not fences around sacred cows.
Our inner compass must be the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5). The Spirit of Christ will help us maintain our balance while we journey towards heaven.