Meditation: A Vow of Integrity

Passage
Psalm 101:1-4

Context
A Psalm of David during one of his "high points" of his life.  He is making the commitment to God to live a life that honors God.

Key Words
Sing, Pay attention, Integrity, worthless, Hate, involved

Message
Psalm 101:2 has "the way of integrity" (tamin derek) the namesake of my site.  It is important that we pay attention to this way.  At times we casually walk along in life without paying attention to where we are going let alone where we are stepping.  David starts with a song.  Praise and worship of God is a good starting place to walk the way of integrity.  There is something about a praise and worship song that centers the soul and brings peace to the spirit. 

Integrity is an inside to outside phenomena.  A person may have an appearance of integrity that fools most if not all people.  However, that person is internally in turmoil and certainly does not fool God.  "I will live with a heart of integrity..." in Psalm 101:2 seems to capture this idea.  From the heart must flow this integrity.  It has to be a heart change, a repentant heart, and a committed heart that leads to integrity.  It makes me think of the definition of integrity that I heard once.  What I believe (in my heart) aligns with what I say aligns with what I do.  Integrity then is measured to the degree that these three align. 

Lord break my heart for you (Ps 51:17).  Take my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).  I long for Your integrity in my heart (2 Chronicles 19:9).

Integrity means making some choices to put away and avoid certain things that this life offers.  It starts with what we put in front of our eyes.  What we look at must not be worthless.  The measure of worth is from God.  Does this think honor God.  Nothing no matter what pleasure it may bring us is has worth if it displeases God.  A man of integrity will honor this truth.

Breaking God's Law is also not an option.  It must not even "cling" to you.  We must shake disobedience off like a poisonous scorpion that has climbed up on our garment. 

If God is gracious enough to give us a heart of flesh filled with integrity then we must guard it from perverting and crooked desires of the flesh.  This must be far from us. 

This is our commitment Lord "I will not be involved in evil."

May God richly bless you and grant you a heart of integrity.