Dictionary.com defines integrity as “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.” When I teach on integrity with students, I like to define it as the perfect alignment of your visible and invisible behaviors. In other words, integrity is when your actions in public (visible) match perfectly with your actions in private (invisible).
Integrity can be one of the biggest barriers in a Christian’s life. Too often what I say or do publicly doesn’t sync with what I do privately. When my private walk doesn’t match my public walk/talk, I feel guilt. This guilt not only puts a strain on my relationship with others, but also with Jesus.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13
The Apostle Paul calls you to a life of integrity. He charges you to “work out your own salvation” both in public and in private. “Work out” means to put into practice the truth that Jesus has revealed to you. On your own, that’s impossible. But because it is “God who works in you,” we are able to do it.
Of course, Jesus first showed us the perfect example of integrity:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8
How are you doing at living a life with integrity and working out your salvation? Be encouraged, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”