Who is to say what’s really wrong?

A lifestyle choice widely embraced by many in society today is a do-it-if-it-feels-good sort of morality. It has been fostered by the existentialists who deny that there are absolutes in our world, or clearly defined morals. Nothing is right or wrong in itself, so the person does whatever seems right at the moment. Truth is subjective. It’s the I’m-OK-you’re-OK-too mentality. It’s a pragmatism that says, “If you can get away with it, why not do it, since everybody else is doing it as well.”

Our English word integrity comes from a Latin adjective integer, a term used in math and science that means “whole or complete.” Defining integrity is some­thing like nailing Jell-o or gelatin to the wall. You may not know how to define it, but you know it without a doubt when you see it. A simple definition is “doing what you say you will do.” Integrity isn’t measured in percentages like a batting average. You don’t have “some integrity” as though you could say, “Last week I had 78 percent integrity but slipped on that a couple of times that cut down my average.” Either you have it or you don’t. A man who is faithful to his wife 98 percent of the time is still an adulterer and has been unfaithful to his wife no mat­ter how many times he has come straight home after work.

Integrity can be developed. That’s what redemption and grace are all about. Many people can say, “That’s what my life used to be, and then I met Jesus Christ, who changed me into what I am now.” Paul put it, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). That’s Good News, and that’s what the Gospel is all about.