Have you ever noticed that most everyone has a unique gait? Some are swift of foot, others plod along. Some kind of bounce as they move along, while others move with more fluidity, and there are those few who walk with an unmistakable swagger. I once met a person who walked on their toes. Their heels almost never touched the ground. Don walks like Ussain Bolt. Go visiting at the hospital with him sometime and you’ll see that I’m right - the guy walks FAST.
Psalm 15 introduces us to a man “who walks with integrity.” That’s not a statement of what he’s carrying around, but a description of the way he carries himself. He is a man whose daily walk is one of integrity. The word integrity comes from the Latin word “integer,” a term we use in mathematics in speaking of a whole or complete number. That’s integrity; the quality of being whole, complete, or pure. The man who walks with integrity is consistent; he has set his course, he has made up his mind, he has chosen to lead a life devoted to the precepts of God and he will not tolerate any deviation.
The man who walks with integrity “does not slander with his tongue,” even when he’s been treated poorly by the person he’s tempted to slander (Psalm 15:3). The man who walks with integrity does no “evil to his neighbor,” even if he could easily get away with it (Psalm 15:3). The man who walks with integrity “swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Psalm 15:4). The man who walks with integrity will not “take a bribe against the innocent,” even if he really needs the money or the offer is lucrative (Psalm 15:5).
We often say that integrity is to be the same person in private that you are in public. That is true, but integrity goes deeper, I think. Integrity is true spiritual consistency. It is remaining devoted to the precepts of God when they challenge me, when they hurt me, when they require a huge sacrifice. Walking with integrity means I don’t domesticate certain sins and keep them as pets, and it means I don’t convince myself that an abundance of good deeds will atone for those “pet sins.” Walking with integrity does not mean I will be perfect, but it does mean that there are no areas of my life in which I tolerate perpetual failure.
When you take account of your own life, what do you see? How do you walk? Is your daily walk marked by consistency? Or have you noticed a pattern of deviation? Psalm 15 starts with an important question, “O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?” The inspired answer, “He who walks with integrity...”
