Character and Integrity

Character: the way someone thinks, feels, and behaves : someone’s personality
Integrity: the quality of being honest and fairPeople sometimes say things like, “Oh, that man right there…he’s a man of character and integrity!” And the typical context for such an accolade is the speaker giving someone else their own stamp of approval, as if to say, “You can trust them, for they are who/what they say they are.” A person would be hard-pressed to receive a more admirable proclamation made about them. Furthermore, to be entrusted implies being empowered since the giver is conceding some level of vulnerability to the receiver.In the purest sense, trust is the fruit of good character and integrity.If you are agreeable to my presumptions here, then you must be begging the answer to the question, “Well, then, how do I identify a person of character and integrity so that I might trust them?” It’s just about the most important skill any person can ever hope to acquire. Think about it. In the most extreme of all cases, consider the trust a person must have in Jesus Christ to receive Him as Lord and Savior. Is there a greater call for trust? No. Is said trust based on the merits of His character and integrity? Indeed, it is. Believers have been convinced of His intrinsic goodness, in every sense. He, then, is our perfect prototype of godly character and integrity.However, no one else has ever been perfect, so this “skill” of identifying character and integrity in others becomes that much more difficult to hone. In many ways, only experience with others is able to grant us the appropriate wisdom on the subject. Some of us need to be “burned” several times in order to possess greater skills. On the flip side, we also must be reassured when good people “bless” us. Wisdom is a gradual blessing in our ability to discern those we can trust. It takes time to develop.My son and I were watching a political debate recently between Dinesh D’Souza, a professed Christian, and Cenk Uygur, a professed atheist (I’m not one to debate politics for very long because my belief is simple - if our country’s in trouble, it’s because it’s lost its heart for Christ, it’s that simple. Arguing ad nauseam over political “white noise” and diversions seems stupid to me. I think Jesus would agree, but I digress). What struck me as profoundly obvious was the manner in which the debate transpired. Dinesh’s platform for debating was impersonal, with integrity to the political doctrines at hand. However, Cenk consistently assaulted Dinesh’s person, especially when his own doctrines failed to hold up under scrutiny. Objectively speaking, it was like watching a wise, mature person arguing with an intelligent, sophomoric adolescent. The underling knew he was outclassed, and so he resorted to base derogation and character assault.Likewise, people of true, godly character and integrity will wholeheartedly argue for the doctrines in the Word of God; however, they are never interested in destroying their opponent’s person. Sound like Jesus? It should.When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village.If you read the Bible, paying particularly close attention to the way Jesus approached others, what you’ll see is a gentle spirit, one occupied with saving lives, with clearing the air of false doctrines, unafraid of challenging accepted norms, and willing to take the heat for doing so. What you’ll see, if you truly “see” Him, is that while He was a very harsh judge of false doctrines and those hardened by them, He was very gentle to those with repentant hearts, regardless of their past failures or even their adherence to false doctrines. Jesus’ ultimate goal was to save people, not attack their person. We can learn everything we need to know from Jesus, if we’re humble.An additional word to the wise, one of the most difficult challenges when debating someone lacking godly character and integrity is overcoming their predisposition to making all things personal. They do so because that’s all they are capable of. Therefore, they will often assume that when you dismantle their doctrines, you are, in effect, trying to dismantle them. Arrogance is inherently insecure (recommended book, Covert Arrogance, by yours truly).Arrogant people tend to take everything personally, even when a person of good character and integrity is attempting to sort through doctrinal discrepancies. “So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth” (Galatians 4:16)? This is the death of any meaningful dialogue because the entire scope and objective of the well-intentioned person has been hijacked by arrogance. This is why, after about 5-10 minutes of the aforementioned Dinesh-Cenk debate, I threw up my arms, turning to my son, saying, “This debate is garbage…we’ve got one person trying to discredit his opponent’s doctrines and the other trying to discredit his opponent’s person.”But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.We must learn to hate the sin, but never the sinner, for that was Jesus’ way. If we despise something against the Word in someone else, may we learn to “debate” it openly and with character and integrity, without succumbing to the temptation to make it personal. We are all sinners, none of us completely delivered from false doctrines, none of us with perfect faith. May we be compassionate, too.Jesus’ opponents always attacked His person because they lacked His heart. Darkness strove to extinguish the Light. The irony, like many of character and integrity will attest, is that He was actually trying to deliver them from their misguidedness.To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.” For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon!” The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.The human flesh lacks godly character and integrity, therefore, it will seek to destroy others, not deliver them. Jesus said to the adulterous woman, “‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.’ Then Jesus again spoke to [the Pharisees - who were trying to destroy the adulteress], saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life’” (John 8:11b-12). Jesus’ use of “I am” established His own security in His person, something His attackers would never destroy, even though that was their intent.

Beware of those who make a habit of attacking your person. They are showing themselves untrustworthy.So, to answer the key question, “Well, then, how do I identify a person of character and integrity so that I might trust them?”, we have our answer. If you want to know whom you should trust in this world, those with character and integrity, then look no further than their heart for the Gospel. If their intention is obvious, that they are living for Christ and for the spreading of the good news about Him, then you have someone you can trust, for that person isn’t even interested in what you think of them, strictly speaking. In fact, that person isn’t interested in what you think they think of you! We are not judges; we are evangelists, like our Prototype, “for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). A trustworthy person is like Paul, who proclaimed:And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Love in Christ,
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Ed Collins