INTEGRITY

 

being at one with yourself

One of the teachings from my parents that I remember vividly while growing up was

 their instruction about integrity and their insistence that I “be at one with myself”.

  That was how they described having integrity—acting and doing the things I

 professed to believe in.  My parents stressed that I was never to lower my

 standards or behave in any way to impress others or so that I would be accepted

 by them.  I was expected to do what I knew was right.  And if I didn’t, to anticipate

 the consequences of my actions.

To some people that may sound harsh.  But even as a little kid, I wanted to do what

 was right.  I knew how I behaved meant a lot to my mom and dad.  They wanted

 me to be happy and living so I didn’t act one way around them and another way

 around others made me happy, too.  And, as Mark Twain once said, “When you tell

 the truth [or act the way you should] you never have to remember anything.”

However, I can tell you for sure that when I did not act with integrity, it was like

 having a boomerang poking around in my gut.  It was uncomfortable, and I didn’t

 like that feeling.

In April 2024 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

 Saints, Elder Jack Gerard centered his remarks during the Saturday morning

 session on the topic of INTEGRITY. 

He quoted President Spencer W. Kimball who taught, “Integrity is our willingness

 and ability to live by our beliefs and commitments.”  That sounded very familiar

 to me.  It echoed what my parents had begun teaching me nearly eight decades

ago.

 

Elder Gerard emphasized that living a life of integrity requires us to be true to God,

 to each other, and to our divine identity.  He said, “Jesus Christ is our Exemplar.

 Living a life of integrity requires us to be true to God, to each other, and to our

 divine identity. Integrity flows from the first great commandment to love God.

 Because you love God, you are true to Him at all times. You understand that there

 is right and wrong and there is absolute truth—God’s truth.”

The Lord told Adam and Eve as they left the Garden of Eden that there would be

 opposition in the world.  It is a very vital part of God’s plan for us.  How we respond

 to that opposition is what reveals who we really are.  It is the gauge of our

 personal integrity.  It is the outward representation of an inner promise to follow the

 Savior Jesus Christ.

From the first great commandment to love God, being true to each other naturally

 springs from the second commandment, to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

In spite of the fact much of the world now does not pay attention to “truth”, we need

 to beware of Christian kindness which may overlook or even adopt standards that

 the Lord did not set.  As covenant people with God, we must be beyond reproach

 and align ourselves always with the standards the Lord has set.  Undoubtedly, we

 are going to be at variance with much that goes on in the world and passes for

 truth. 

The third requirement of integrity necessitates us to be true to our divine identity…

that we are literally spirit children of a loving Heavenly Father.  From Him and His

 Son Jesus Christ, we have been taught light and knowledge that helps us be true

 to the person they know we can become...true to the very end!

In the Old Testament after Job had amassed much material wealth and a large

 family, he lost it all in the destruction of a whirlwind.  Then his friends scorned him

 because they were sure his loss was the result of sin he had committed.   They

 even told him to curse God and die.  

 

But Job said, “Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine

 integrity.”

What a powerful statement about the virtue of integrity!  Job had not committed sin,

 nor would he besmirch his honorable life by acting in a way that was opposite of

 what he knew was true as a son of God.

I invite you—and myself—to follow Job’s example, but more importantly, the

 Savior’s example in all He did, not to shrink but live a life that is true to God, to

 each other, and to our divine identity.