Integrity –
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the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
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the state of being whole and undivided.
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the condition of being unified, unimpaired, or sound in construction.
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internal consistency or lack of corruption [in data].
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Praise be to God that He is both of these definitions.
His Honesty:
Numbers 23:19 – “God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?”
Hebrews 6:18 – “God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.”
Titus 1:2 – “…in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began”
Strong moral principles; moral uprightness:
“The Lord is righteous in all His ways” (Psalm 145:17). If you need further study on this, go back to the devotions from Week 3.
Whole and undivided:
2 Timothy 2:13 – “He cannot deny himself.”
Psalm 145:13 – The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”
It is the integrity of God that leads to His faithfulness. In this is our greatest joy. When the Lord speaks, we can take comfort and hold fast to His words. When He promises, he delivers. 2 Peter 1:3-4 tells us, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them [the promises] you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
It is through the promises of God that we receive eternal life (“become partakers of the divine nature”). He grants us these promises by (by means of) “his own glory and excellence” (or “virtue” – AKA “Integrity”).
It is the faithfulness of God that both begins and ends our salvation. No matter which way you approach it, His faithfulness is the foundation because without faithfulness and integrity, his promises mean nothing and lack the power to save.
The second and third verses of the hymn “Standing on the Promises” perfectly encapsulate why it is that the faithfulness of God gives us hope:
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
by the living Word of God I shall prevail,
standing on the promises of God. [Refrain]
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
bound to him eternally by love’s strong cord,
overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
standing on the promises of God.
I shall prevail…Bound to him eternally…Overcoming daily…All of these a result of the faithfulness and integrity found in the promises/Word of God.