Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
For I wait for You.
Psalm 25: 21 (NKJV)
Thought for Today: A chief executive was soon to retire. He wanted to pick a successor, so he gave each of his junior executives a seed, telling them to plant it and bring back the plant in one year. He would then pick his successor. Everyone talked over the ensuing weeks about the plants that they were growing; all but one man, who watered his plant dutifully but did not see anything grow. The day arrived when the new chief executive would be picked. Everyone brought in beautiful plants, except for this one man. The chief executive looked around the room and marveled at the plants. Then, his eyes fell upon the pot of soil with no plant and the nervous man next to it. The chief executive announced to everyone that he would be the next CEO. He then told the group that he had given all of them boiled seeds that could not possibly grow into a plant. All, seeing that nothing was growing, had substituted another seed for the original one, except for the one who persevered in spite of not seeing results.
So often we are tempted to not do the right thing, to take shortcuts, to cheat. We think that no one will notice, it really does not matter, everyone else does it. Our seemingly innocuous indiscretions do impact us, even if we don't get caught and face earthly consequences. Think of all the young executives in the story above who staked everything in something that was a lie. Conversely, think of the one young executive who did the right thing. His integrity won out.
When I meet Jesus face to face someday, I want Him to know me by my integrity, that He would have preserved me, that I would have held on to His truth and been upright in a deceitful age. What about you? Are you living a life in hopeful wait for our Savior, with integrity as your hallmark? Or, are you placing all of your hope on the things of this world, regardless of what it takes to attain them? I pray that it is the former, that you may know the joy of choosing to be His servant.
