Integrity
Then King Darius sent this
message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the
world: “Peace and prosperity to you! I decree that everyone throughout my
kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living
God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his
rule will never end. He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous
signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the
power of the lions.” So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the
reign of Cyrus the Persian. (Daniel 6:25-28)
The public arena
is not an easy place to start from scratch in an effort to become a person of
integrity. One reason is that, in our culture, like Daniel’s, it’s not always
true that when we do wrong we will be punished, and when we do right we’ll be
rewarded. At times the reverse actually seems to be true, challenging our
commitment to do what we know is right. In fact, in Daniel’s case, doing the
right thing was not rewarded, but was punished, instead. However, just when the
situation looked absolutely hopeless, Daniel was delivered from death “because
he believed in his God.” (Daniel 6:23) What he was in private — a committed
follower of God — was ultimately revealed in public.
This had been
quite a night, as Daniel found himself in the company of a bunch of hungry
lions. He had been thrown into their den, but apparently slept like a baby in their
midst. Duped by Daniel’s enemies to sign a decree that mandated what appeared
to be Daniel’s death sentence, Darius had stayed up all night, pacing back and
forth in confusion and concern. At dawn, however, he rushed to the lions’ den,
cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted, “Daniel,
servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to
rescue you from the lions?” (Daniel 6:20) The king was amazed and
relieved to hear Daniel’s response.
Daniel stirred, probably
rubbed his eyes, stretched out his arms, let out a yawn, wiped the lion fur
from his head where he had pillowed it, and answered, “Long
live the king! My God sent
his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have
been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.”
(Daniel 6:21-22)
The king’s
question of Daniel is the question our culture is asking us today: Is the God
whom we serve able to deliver us?
Daniel had kept
his faith in God, a mark of true integrity that was rooted deep in his private
world. And it always follows that integrity is ultimately revealed in the
public world for God’s glory and our good. And I think there’s a lesson here.
Daniel was in the lions’ den not
because he had done wrong, but because he had done right. And we all know of
people who, like Daniel, have paid a great price for actually doing what was
right. But, when all is said and finally done, God — who will never abdicate His
throne — will right all wrongs. What we see in Daniel’s experience is that, in
the final analysis, our integrity will be revealed in the public square as a
testimony to our faith and our God.
Upon being
delivered from the lions’ den, Daniel’s integrity was now on public display. But
Daniel didn’t take credit for his deliverance. He was quick to say, “My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would
not hurt me.” (Daniel 6:22) People of integrity do not take personal
credit for something they did not do.
In response,
Darius made this startling decree to the people of every race
and nation and language throughout the then-known world: “Peace and prosperity
to you! I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear
before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. He rescues
and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens
and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” (Daniel 6:25-27)
Even a lost
culture will stop and take notice of a person of integrity when their integrity
is revealed in public. And from Daniel’s experience in the midst of the lions,
we learn that our integrity must be rooted in our private life. And if Daniel
is an example, prayer should be our number one priority. In Daniel’s own value
system, his private time alone with his God was his highest priority.
We learn, too,
that integrity is reflected in our personal lives. How we respond and react in
our personal relationships with those who know us best is directly correlative to
the strength of our own private life with the Lord, and can always be
reinforced in our professional, or working lives. Integrity is crucial in today’s
marketplace. Unfortunately, many professing believers are not influencing our
culture because their lives Monday through Friday aren’t much different from
the lives of those with whom they work. The best place to engage and transform
our culture is not the place where we spend our Sunday mornings, but where we
spend most of our days, Monday through Friday.
Daniel’s story
also reminds us that integrity will ultimately be revealed in our public life.
Everything King Darius knew about God he learned by observing Daniel’s public
life of integrity. Think about that. We are being watched, and our world still
wants to know, “Is your God able to deliver you?” They will never know the
answer to that question unless we are men and women of integrity.
Our culture
brings new challenges to our Christian faith with each passing day. New assaults
on religious liberties, cherished for centuries, are happening with increasing
regularity. And Daniel would be able to relate. Like many of us, Daniel grew up
in a culture built on biblical truth and centered in traditional family values.
And then he found himself living in a culture that was hostile to everything he
had ever known. His value system, his truth claims, and his moral compass were
challenged repeatedly at every turn. His world was suddenly a world of
pluralistic thought. But Daniel had a different spirit about him. He was a man
of integrity who not only engaged his culture head-on, but was used by God to
transform the culture in which he lived.
It seems that
with every new court decision, rule or regulation, our twenty-first-century
culture tests our Christian values and truth claims, challenging them as “alternative
facts.” And those of us who once knew a Judeo-Christian culture have suddenly
found ourselves living in a culture as hostile to what we believe as Babylon
was hostile to Daniel’s closely-held beliefs.
Our world is
evolving into one of massive pluralism with an encroaching paganism attached to
various belief systems. Our nation — our culture — is in need of men and women
whose integrity is rooted in their private lives, reflected in their personal
lives, reinforced in their professional lives, and then ultimately revealed in
public. May we all rise up and be counted.
Daniel left us
his template for engaging and influencing his culture. It was, at its core, founded
upon his personal integrity. And if we’re going to find our way through a
culture that has lost its own, we must do the same. So be a person of integrity;
let it have its genesis in prayer and then, like a mirror, let it be a
reflection of your personal life that, once revealed, will answer the question
of a culture who desperately wants to know if your God is able.
Integrity. Don’t
leave home without it.
Grace,
Randy
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