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Last week at Crossfire Masters Commission we talked a lot about integrity. Thinking on the subject brought to mind a quote that I'd heard once, "Integrity is what you do when you know that no one will find out." D.L. Moody called it, "what you do in the dark." Integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. It is also defined as the state of being whole and undivided (as in structural integrity).

Now lets think about that second definition for a second. What would happen to a building if it's integrity were compromised? It would collapse, plain and simple, without structural integrity a house cannot stand. Now why would you think integrity in our lives would be any different? After all, 1 Corinthians does compare our lives to buildings.

When thinking about integrity there is one story in the Bible that stands out above all the rest in my mind, that shows perfectly the results of an integrity breakdown, the story of David and Bathsheba. The whole story from beginning to end, shows how integrity compromise builds on its-self until your whole life is falling apart. Go ahead and read it right now if you haven't already it's in 2 Samuel chapter 11.

The story starts out with David sitting at home when he's supposed to be at war and ends with him murdering a man to cover up his own adultery. You see the story starts out innocently enough, King David is just taking a break, and why shouldn't he, he's the king. But it was the first compromise of integrity that set off the whole chain of horrible events. And this isn't atypical, it shows perfectly the way integrity breakdown occurs in every one of our lives, seemingly small decisions build on each other until all of a sudden everything is falling down around our ears.

So I want to encourage you, hold strong in your integrity, even in the small things. Maintaining strength of character even in the little areas of life can give your life the integrity to withstand the storms.