DOES IT MATTER?

Proverbs 11:1-8
1 The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are His delight. 2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. 3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. 4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. 5 The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness. 6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires. 7 When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes; all he expected from his power comes to nothing. 8 The righteous man is rescued from trouble, and it comes on the wicked instead.

A New York Times article reported that Internet plagiarism is growing among students in the United States. In a study conducted on 23 college campuses, 38 percent of undergraduates said they had engaged in "cut and paste" plagiarism by taking information
from the Internet or from written sources and using it in their papers without citing a source. Half of the students who admitted copying material in this way considered it trivial behavior or not cheating at all.

Compared to corporate fraud or international war crimes, lifting a couple of paragraphs from a Web site might seem like a small thing. But as Christians, we're called to a high standard of integrity in every area of life for God's honor and our own good.

Today's Scripture passage contrasts a person of integrity with one whose choices are based strictly on self-interest. One is dishonest, the other is fair (v.1). One is humble, the other proud (v.2). One is liberated by being truthful, the other is trapped by practicing deceit. Verse 3 takes both lifestyles to their logical end and concludes:
"The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity."

Oswald Chambers, author of My Utmost For His Highest, had much more than plagiarism in mind when he told his Bible college students: "Beware of the thing of which you say--'Oh, that does not matter much.' The fact that it does not matter much to you may mean that it matters a very great deal to God. Nothing is a light matter with a child of God."

Integrity is a powerful character trait that is built through small daily choices. Sometimes doing the right thing out of love and obedience to God can bring an immediate loss of money, status, or opportunity. But in the long run, integrity takes us down the roadof life and freedom, where God intends us to be. --Dave McCasland

DESTINATION POINTS

* Why is it so easy to compromise what I know is right to get what I want?
* What behavior have I been excusing by saying, "It doesn't matter"?
* How does the Lord want me to respond to what I've read in Proverbs 11?

LINKS:
http://www.utmost.org/

bottom line: Integrity is the path Jesus calls us to take.

soul journey