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NASB | Job 2:3 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Job 2:3 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered and reflected on My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God [with reverence] and abstains from and turns away from evil [because he honors God]. And still he maintains and holds tightly to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to destroy him without cause." |
Bible Question:
My brothers and sisters, I am dealing with a situation here at home and was thinking someone could recomend a good study on personal integrity. Always your brother, lionheart |
Bible Answer: And I had thought this was so simple. If personal integrity is hard, or deep, or difficult to attain, then we are surely in deep trouble. It seems to me it is the very first rung of the ladder of the Christian life, for if I have no integrity, then how am I a believer at all? I wondered if I was understanding what the word “Integrity” means. In hopes that we were thinking of the same thing, I looked it up in the dictionary and found: “Integrity: condition of being whole or undivided”. It's like being one person, not two-faced or double-tongued. In terms of spiritual life, or even for one who is not spiritual, this would mean that a person is for real, not a fake, not a hypocrite, not a pretender, not self-deceived. Surely, anyone would want to be a person of integrity. Even an unbeliever says with Shakespeare, “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man”. He says with Kipling, “Don't deal in lies” and with Baldwin, “Cheat your trusting neighbors never; Speak the truth, and speak it ever“. Surely, any true believer in our Lord Jesus Christ would be a person of integrity. In order to become a Christian, a person must first come to face himself as he really is (Luke 15). He admits that he is a sinner (Luke 18). He does not try to excuse his sin. With eyes opened by the Holy Spirit, he sees himself as God sees him. He sees his peril. He sees his need. He comes to God in that light and accepts God’s salvation through Jesus Christ. Then God pronounces him forgiven, justified, right in the sight of God (Romans 3:24). He accepts that. He understands that he has no strength in himself, that he is dependent on God (1 Peter 1). He understands that God hates sin, the sin that can creep back into his life (Hebrews 12). He understands that he must confess his sin and forsake them, so he can remain clean (Proverbs 28:13). He does not pretend. He depends. On God. To show him the way. To follow it (Psalm 139). And him (Philippians 3). Why would a true believer not choose a life if integrity? A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways (James 1). He wobbles and stumbles, tossed about by every wind (Ephesians 4; Hebrews 13). But surely, as Christians, we have been taught to stand (1 Corinthians 15; Hebrews 6). And to walk uprightly (Psalm 1; Psalm 15). We stand for truth (Ephesians 6). We are sanctified and characterized by truth (John 17:17). And surely we would not want to deceive ourselves (1 John 1). Or others (1 Corinthians 2; Colossians 2). Perhaps the simplest lesson on integrity was taught by our Lord directly, in Matthew 5. Jesus said, “Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' be 'No.'“ (v. 37). It was repeated by James in other words, “If you mean yes, then say yes. If you mean no, then say no“ (James 5). But life experience teaches us that professing Christians lie, and cheat, and break their promises. Integrity, being real, may be a simple, lower lever Christian skill. But it must be taught, and modeled still. |