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It’s becoming harder and harder to know whom to trust. Politicians disappoint us, businesses overpromise, and advertisers often tell only part of the story. We point to the world around us and wonder what happened. But what if the first place we should look isn’t out there? What if it’s in the mirror? I invite you to read more.
There is a word we do not hear very often anymore. It seldom dominates political speeches or corporate boardrooms. It rarely appears in advertising campaigns or headlines. Yet without it, trust slowly erodes, relationships weaken, and character begins to crumble. That word is integrity.
Recently, while I was in prayer, God placed the word integrity on my heart. As I continued to pray, I sensed the Holy Spirit calling me to reflect honestly on that word in my own life, while also encouraging others to reflect on what integrity means in theirs. I did not write this as one who has mastered integrity. I wrote it because God invited each of us to look more closely into the mirror.
Most of us define integrity as honesty, keeping our promises, or doing the right thing when no one else is watching. Those are certainly marks of integrity, but the word reaches much deeper. Integrity is about wholeness. It is the gradual work of allowing every part of our lives to reflect the faith we profess. It is the opposite of living in compartments. It is becoming the same person wherever we are and whatever we are doing.
Many years ago, I wrote about the old expression sine cera—“without wax.” Although this is not the true origin of our word sincere, the familiar story still offers a powerful image. According to the story, dishonest craftsmen concealed cracks in pottery or statues by filling them with wax. The wax covered the defects and made the object appear perfect, but it never repaired what was broken.
When those objects were brought into the light and exposed to the heat of the sun, the wax began to melt. What had been carefully concealed was revealed, and the cracks beneath the polished surface became visible. God has never asked us to pretend that we have no cracks. He does, however, call us to stop covering them with wax and presenting ourselves as something we are not.
Perhaps that is why the words of the prophet Joel continue to echo through the centuries: “Return to me with all your heart.” God does not say, “Return to me with part of your heart.” He does not ask only for the portions of our lives we find easy to surrender while allowing us to retain control of everything else. He lovingly calls us to come back with all our heart.
That invitation is directed to every one of us. We Christians can sincerely love the Lord and still discover places where our choices do not match our convictions. We can pray, worship, serve, and speak about faith while quietly retaining areas of life that we have not fully surrendered. We can become so accustomed to these contradictions that they eventually seem normal.
We may have one face at church, another at work, another at home, and still another when no one else is watching. Each face may contain something real, but integrity asks whether all the pieces belong together. Are we becoming one person, or have we grown comfortable moving between different versions of ourselves?
God never stops calling us back. He does not call because He wants to humiliate or condemn us. He calls because He loves us too much to leave us divided. He sees every contradiction, every compromise, and every unsurrendered corner of our hearts, and still He says, “Come back to me.”
The greatest commandment has never changed. We are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. God has never negotiated for ninety percent of our lives. He has always desired all of us.
Perhaps that is the deepest meaning of integrity. It is not perfection, nor is it the ability to convince others that we have everything together. Integrity begins when we stop dividing our lives into separate compartments and place every part of ourselves under the loving lordship of Christ. It is allowing God to unite what we have allowed to become divided.
We should also remember that wax never remains hidden forever. Jesus tells us that nothing concealed will remain hidden and nothing secret will fail to become known. Sooner or later, everything is brought into the light. The question is not whether the wax will eventually melt. The question is whether we will willingly allow God to remove it now.
Perhaps integrity has become rare in our culture because it first became rare in human hearts. The renewal of our homes, churches, and communities will not begin in Washington, on Wall Street, or in a corporate boardroom. It begins when individual followers of Christ stop examining everyone else and courageously look into the mirror.
Have we become content with giving God most of our hearts instead of all of them? Are there places where our choices contradict the faith we profess? Are we the same people in our thoughts, words, relationships, and private decisions that we appear to be before others? If the heat of God’s light melted every layer of wax, what cracks would be exposed? Are we sincerely coming back to Him with all our hearts, and are we truly becoming women and men of integrity? I see room for improvement in my life. Do you?
Heavenly Father, You have patiently called Your children back to Yourself throughout every generation. Give us the courage to surrender every part of our lives to You. Remove whatever keeps us divided, melt away everything false, and form within us hearts that are authentic, sincere, and wholly Yours. Amen.
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AMDG
AMDG is a Latin abbreviation for “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam,” which means “For the Greater Glory of God.”
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