Posted on 05/19/2022 7:13:47 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him” (Proverbs 20:7).
He has a godly walk. How does he walk? In his integrity. That is wholeness. A man with integrity is an individual that is physically sound, and spiritually whole. Integrity is moral soundness. The best way to put it is that it is the kind of character that is incorruptible. The Devil can tempt that character, but because his ways are so deeply ingrained, and so well planned within him, that it is an easy thing for him to say, “Nope!”
“A just man walketh in his integrity,” not his own desires. If he walked in his desires, he’ll spend the rest of his life fulfilling his own wishes and wants and not the will of God for his life.
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5:16-17).
That is what is wrong with American young people. The way of righteousness is vague to them, so that when they are tempted with evil, it is so easy for them to yield, and so hard for them to resist it. Television programs have filled them with so much situational ethics that they are convinced that the ends justify the means in every case. They have no guidance, they have no training in discipline where like a soldier, they reflexively defend themselves against it.
A soldier is taught to defend himself; he is taught to recognize the enemy or a dangerous situation and react to it. The sentry will call out, “Identify yourself! Friend or foe!” Pilots are taught to identify the enemy just by the shape of the fuselage, because they rarely get close enough to it to see the hammer and sickle on it. With their training, they are prepared not to be drawn into a situation where they are vulnerable.
When a child is properly trained, he is taught to stay away from things that are wrong, and you repeat the lessons over and over and over again until they are second nature. Then, when they are faced with choices the chances are much greater that they will choose the right over the wrong. Even when they yield to temptation, they will know that they have done wrong and will have the tools to correct the problem. God will work on them, and their character will grow. Some people have no character whatsoever, so they do not have an anchor for when the storms of temptation come—and their vessel is overwhelmed.
When a man consistently walks in his own integrity, he establishes a solid example for his children, and as a result, “his children are blessed after him.”
“As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more” (Psalm 103:15, 16).
Life is a book with babyhood, childhood and old age as chapters in a swift-moving story. The closing chapter, old age or the sunset years, is the climax of our lives. The most beautiful times in our lives are the years filled with experience and training, and we use them to crown our life with wisdom and blessing.
How does your life's book read? Is it a beautiful one, full of praises and grace?
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