Living with Integrity: A call to “Just Believe!” every day

“Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, ‘You are the God who sees me [El Roi].’ She also said, ‘Have I truly seen the One who sees me?’” — Genesis 16:13 (NLT)

Integrity: Not just a fancy word,’ but a whole pie of consistency in every slice of life. Let’s make sure our pie is deliciously wholesome! The words in Genesis 16:13 are incredibly powerful and profound. Hagar calls God the “God who sees me” after experiencing His presence in her life. This passage reminds us that our relationship with God is about believing in Him and experiencing Him daily, where we “Just Believe” with Integrity.

Many Christians use a pie analogy to describe their life. They divide their life into different pieces, such as work life, spiritual life, family life, and social life. They also have a secret life that includes their addictions, compulsions, and things that nobody else knows about. However, segmenting life this way can lead to a lack of integrity. Integrity means being the same person in every aspect of life, with every person, and in every situation. Your speech, actions, and motives should reflect the same values, regardless of which part of life you are in.

As Christians, we often talk about seeing God and being seen by Him, but it is in our everyday actions that our faith is truly put to the test. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:8 that we must have a pure heart (integrity) to experience God’s blessings fully. This is exactly what Hagar experienced when she opened herself up to the Lord. We receive God’s power, forgiveness, understanding, and peace when our hearts are pure. Living whole with integrity is essential to having a pure heart and is your witness to God’s Glory.

Integrity is not about being perfect but rather about being whole and unbroken, with every aspect of our lives functioning correctly. It means consistency in all areas of our lives, regardless of convenience. We should always act with pure and sincere motives, approaching life honestly and forthrightly. The Bible says, “The

Lord detests people with crooked hearts, but he delights in those with integrity (Proverbs 11:20 (NLT).”

Living with integrity means seeking guidance from God and godly people to cultivate the fear of the Lord. It involves practicing solitude to listen to divine wisdom and living accordingly. This means having a healthy sense of reverence, awe, and respect for God and acknowledging our place in His universe. It is about having a moral mindset and recognizing that we are not God. We must humble ourselves before Him and embrace

His definition of right and wrong again, even when inconvenient to me. When we make our highest goal to listen to wisdom and cultivate the fear of the Lord, we are Christians living with integrity (Proverbs 1:1-9).

Please reflect on how you are a person of integrity and how it can be applied to your life. May we, like Hagar, understand the power of God’s presence and how He sees all things and blesses and honors those who “Just Believe” with integrity.

Warmly,

Drake Hunter is the

Senior Pastor at Elevating Life Church in Fort Morgan and the author of “Wonderfully Weird Living.”