Proverbs 11

<READ PROVERBS 11 ON BIBLE GATEWAY>

Integrity and righteousness seem to be synonymous in Proverbs 11.  I usually associate the word integrity with “worldly” relationships and behaviors and the word righteousness with more spiritual things, so this poses an interesting thought about how God relates the physical world and the spiritual world.  Sometimes I over-spiritualize the term righteousness.  But after reading Proverbs 11, it becomes apparent that God places a high value on our integrity, or how we treat one another.  According to Proverbs 11, “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity” (v 3).    Is God calling us to straightforward lives?

Once during a student ministry lesson, I compared our lives to cake.  (Who doesn’t like cake, right?)  In particular, as I think about the lives of teenagers, I can see the temptation for them to behave in different ways:  one way around parents and another around friends.  (And let’s don’t even get started on how to act around pastors!)  In fact, one of the most common complaints that I heard from teenagers was about how friends act a certain way at church and another at school or home.  This usually ends up destroying friendships and damaging individuals.
  
This is where the cake comes in.  If I could perfectly plan my life, I would like for every aspect to be consistent with all of the others.  In other words, my behavior and speech would be the same whether I was at home, at work/church, at the golf course or at the pool.  I want my wife to be able to say that I’m the same person regardless of where I am.  OR, if I were to take a cross-section or slice of my life, I would want it to be consistent, like, say, a pound cake, similar in color and texture throughout.  The opposite of this would be a layer cake.  If you take a slice, you see many different sections and colors depending on which part of the cake you see.

So what does this mean for us?  How can we apply this to life?  I think it boils down to two words: REDUCE DUPLICITY.  We have to become the same people at work that we are at church gatherings.  And we have to become the same people at home that we are when we are with our friends.  Treating others with consideration and love is part of the integrity that God desires for our lives.  May we always treat his children as precious and worthy of our love.

What step will you take today towards a more consistent life?

Darin Miller
Family Ministries Pastor