justice and integrity

Evil men do not understand justice,

but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.

Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity

than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

Proverbs 28:5-6

Two character traits are exhibited in these proverbs that are growing thin in today’s culture: justice and integrity. I have watched it happen over my lifetime. Truth has become malleable as our culture has abandoned Judeo-Christian foundations in favor of post-modern individualism. The result is that justice is now seen as nothing more than a way to affirm personal freedom. People are excited about living how they want to live, without any moral constraint, as long as they are happy. But if that life violates a biblical standard there is absolutely no mercy for those who might point it out. “Justice” as it is now defined, then turns against God, and is no longer true justice from God.

Integrity is also personal silly putty in the hands of this generation. The current thinking goes like this: Right is what is right for me, as long as there is no law against it or it doesn’t hurt anybody. And if I have to lie or manipulate the facts to get where I want to be in life, there is really “no harm/no foul”. Truth is what I make it. Media is all about interpretation, not fact, and this goes for alternative media as well as for the traditional sources of news. Thus the rise of fake news. Our society has chosen to make up integrity as it goes. It often creates a narrative to support a particular agenda... and there are more agendas than can be counted!

So... in this chaos I will choose to allow God to continue to inform justice in His Word and will wait for Him to sovereignly dispense it. And I would rather be poor with honesty and integrity as my deeply valued commodities, than wealthy under the burden of lies and deceptions. This is the freedom God gives and I trust Him so I might live freely in my soul.