"Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on Thee." Psalm 25:21

What are character and integrity? The life of Joseph is an example of both. When tempted in private, by a seductress, Joseph said, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" Genesis 39:8 Here is integrity in living color! Integrity is when all one’s life is an open book – lived before God and man in oneness. Integrity has only one face – a consistent face, the same before God or men.

Character grows in the seed bed of integrity. Character is the life long expression of integrity. BUT WHERE CAN CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY FROM US WHO ARE SINNERS COME? ONLY ONE PLACE . . . THE GRACE OF GOD! BY GRACE AND BY LIVING IN THAT GRACE, GOD WILL PUT CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY INTO YOUR HEART AND LIFESTYLE. HE WILL HELP YOUR DAILY WALK MATCH THE BELIEF IN YOUR HEART. OVER THE YEARS, YOU WILL SEE CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY DWELL IN YOUR PUBLIC LIFE GROWING OUT OF YOUR PRIVATE LIFE.

Each of our personalities is made up of three components – the Private Self no one else knows but you . . . the Personal Self only a few people know . . . the Public Self the world sees. Character has developed when there is absolutely no difference between the Private Self and the Public Self.

ONLY THE BLOOD OF JESUS CAN MAKE US HAVE CHARACTER AND MAKE US PEOPLE OF INTEGRITY. INTEGRITY LITERALLY MEANS 'ONE'. WE ARE 'ONE' PERSON, THE SAME IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WHEN WE HAVE INTEGRITY. ONLY JESUS CHRIST HAS TRUE INTEGRITY. AS YOU ARE LINKED TO HIM IN LOVE AND FAITH, YOU WILL BECOME LIKE HIM, A PERSON OF INTEGRITY.

AFTER WE ARE SAVED BY GOD'S GRACE, WE WORK ON DEVELOPING CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY. BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, BY PRAYER AND BIBLE READING, BY PATIENCE AND LOVE, HE MAKES US INTO HIS IMAGE, INTO PEOPLE OF CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY.

The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring character to the twice born child of God. "And character brings hope, and hope makes us not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who is given unto us." (Romans 5:4-5)

Pray to be a man or a woman of integrity and character by the grace of God from the living, indwelling Christ. These are the people who change the world.

'SEW A THOUGHT, REAP AN ACT. SEW AN ACT, REAP A HABIT. SEW A HABIT, REAP A CHARACTER, SEW A CHARACTER, REAP A DESTINY.'