"His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”" Job 2:9 (NIV)
The question Job’s wife asked him is one that 21st century believers need to ask themselves.  This is a question that especially rings true in a society whose leaders are filled with half-truths and outright lies.  This past week the Annual National Prayer Breakfast was held in Washington D.C.  For more than 50 years, the National Prayer Breakfast has served as a prime networking event in Washington, bringing together the President, members of Congress, foreign diplomats, and thousands of religious, business and military leaders for scrambled eggs and supplication.

Unlike most other National Prayer Breakfasts, this year’s event was surrounded by controversy as both the President and his Secretary of State decided to utilize this sacred platform as a launch-pad to propagate a liberal political agenda that distorts truth.

While this author has endeavored to keep these weekly messages non-political, recent events cause me to remind my audience of the importance integrity plays in the life of our great country and people like you and me.

I recently read a story about a poster in Chicago.  It read, “The Value of a Leader Is Directly Proportional to That Leader’s Values”.  The accuracy of that statement struck me.  What we value shapes our character- and will ultimately define how we lead, or whether we can lead at all.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the believers at Colosse, he said, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:2).  The reality is that we can not be effective disciples (ambassadors for the King) if we allow our values (character) to be shaped by the media, capricious societal values, or worldly thinking.  It has been said that we live in a world that knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing. 

As followers of Christ we are called to shape our integrity and values not on the “here and now” but on what lasts forever.  The Proverbs of Solomon and the other Scriptures remind us that we need to be a generation that follows God’s word.  Let’s reflect on just a few scriptures that remind us of how God directs His people.

• "Turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding," Proverbs 2:2 (NIV)
• "Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." Proverbs 2:5 (NIV)
• "Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path." Proverbs 2:9 (NIV)
• "For acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young—" Proverbs 1:3-4 (NIV)
• "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil." Proverbs 4:25-27 (NIV)

1     I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will sing praise.
2     I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart.
3     I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.
4     Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil.
5     Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.
6     My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.
7     No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.
8     Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the Lord.
Psalm 101:1-8