FAIL or EPICFAIL!
This four letter hash-tag has become one of the most popular and most used words on the internet. It's slang for any situation that has an unfortunate outcome. It shows up everywhere-- in twitter feeds, videos, images, blogs, on billboards, and on television. It's become a way to laugh at ourselves and at the other people. If a person really messes up badly, sometimes you'll see EPICFAIL.
So here are a few examples. (Note to reader- a series of pictures were shown to the congregation.) This is a picture of train wreck at Montparnasse from 1895. This is a man trying to catch a wave when he notices an ominous shadow in the water, a whale, probably photoshopped--we hope!. This is the lettering on pavement in front of a school! Here is a guy who does not like tying his tie! This is a cow that was little too curious for his own good!
Now most of these examples are in good taste. But more often than not, this hash-tag is used to humiliate people who are acting out in the very worst ways. It's used to chronicle the moral failure of political figures like Bill Clinton or John Edwards, the moral failure of religious leaders like Ted Haggard, the steroid use of baseball greats like Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, or Jose Canseco, or the adulterous behavior of golfing legend Tiger Woods.
Everywhere we look, the failures are piling up. The 'alleged' Penn State cover-up. The tolerance of pedophilia in the Catholic Church. The indiscretions of secret service agents in Columbia. The New Orleans Saints' bounty scandal, where defensive players were paid to take out opponents. The failure of banks and multi-billion dollar corporations because of greedy insiders. These kinds of 'failures' aren't so humorous. According to some reports, the average family has lost 40% of their wealth in the last few years alone. There is a sense that failure is to be expected, and is becoming commonplace.
We need to elevate the value of integrity and the ethical life.
I believe it is our calling as a church to elevate the value of integrity and the ethical life. We can spend all day laughing at fools, and being fools, or we can set an inspired example worthy of imitation. What if integrity was to become more fashionable than failure? What if the quest for integrity was to become a grass roots movement again? What if integrity was infecting our churches, our homes, our families, and our local schools? What if it was infecting area businesses, social service agencies, and public sector agencies like police, fire, and utilities, and all branches of government? What if we became intolerant of failure in our own lives, and advocated integrity wherever we found ourselves?
One of the things that strikes me about integrity is how it is mastered in the little things. If you trace colossal failures back to their origins, they always begin with seemingly insignificant compromises. An executive misleads his board about sales figures. An accountant covers up a mistake on a spreadsheet. A manager behaves unethically, or engages in an illicit relationship with a direct subordinate. A supervisor neglects quality control standards. An "entitled-feeling" employee cuts a corner here and there.
You know, Proverbs has a lot to say about seemingly insignificant things. But we must remember that integrity is the accumulation of little acts-- acts that are seldom seen by others, but seen by you and seen by God.
Integrity starts with having diligent hands.
Integrity is having diligent hands. Have you ever heard of the Protestant work ethic? Proverbs 10:4-5 (NIV) says, "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son." Proverbs 12:24 (NIV) says, "Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor." Proverbs 20:13 (NIV) says, "Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare." Proverbs 26:14 (NIV) says, "As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed." And Proverbs 14:23 (NIV) says, "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."
If you want to foster integrity in your own life and in your family, learn how to work hard. Don't let television, Facebook, and sleep rob you, your spouse, or your children of initiative. Don't sit around waiting for other people to make things happen for you.
Proverbs 24:30-34 (NIV) says, "I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-- and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." When you're lazy, your livelihood begins to crumble. Weeds and thorns begin to choke out everything good in your life.
Integrity is working now, playing later.
Our culture has this backwards. We want to work later and play right now. This is the whole reason the financial industry is collapsing. We have to have the home now, the televisions, the gadgets, the degrees, and the clothes. So we get a mortgage, a few credit cards, a few student loans, and a second mortgage. Debt makes us desperate. Desperate people cut corners. Desperate societies collapse. Look at Greece, because it is preview of what will happen in America within a decade.
Proverbs 22:7 (NIV) says, "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Proverbs 22:26-27 (NIV) says, "Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you." Proverbs 24:27 (NIV) says, "Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house." Proverbs 21:5 (NIV) says, "The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty." We need a different mentality. Work now, save now, plan now. Play later. But do play. The worker deserves his reward!
Integrity is earning your own way.
There is nothing more corrupting to a man's soul than cheating. It is corrupting to have a sense of entitlement that other people owe you a job, food, clothing, a livelihood, a home, an education, a retirement, health insurance, birth control, an 'A' on your report card, or a 'trophy' for your mantle.
Proverbs 29:21 (NIV) says, "If a man pampers his servant from youth, he will bring grief in the end." Proverbs 16:26 (NIV) says, "The laborer's appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on." Proverbs 28:19 (NIV) says, "He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty." There is something deeply satisfying when you've truly had to work hard at something.
I am an adjunct professor at Lincoln Christian University, teaching at the Master's and Doctoral level. Last semester I had a student who insisted upon receiving an 'A' on every assignment. She had gotten an 'A' in all her courses. But when I was reading her papers, I noticed she was a very poor writer. I had to read her papers over and over just to make sense of them. She wanted a grade that she hadn't earned. I didn't pamper her. I made her earn her grade.
I have other students who complain that my class is too hard. But I don't give into their whining because I know that they have been pampered. When they give me fluff, I make them redo their assignments. At the end of the semester, an 'A' on their report card actually means something. And when they graduate, their degree actually means something, because they had to earn it.
I want to say more about earning your own way. Proverbs 10:2 (NIV) says, "Ill-gotten treasures are of no value..." Proverbs 16:8 (NIV) says, "Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice." Proverbs 11:1 (NIV) says, "The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight." Proverbs 11:18 (NIV) says, "The wicked man earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness earns a sure reward." Proverbs 21:6 (NIV) says, "A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare." Proverbs 22:28 (NIV) says, "Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers."
How you bill time for a client, how you punch the clock, how you work when the boss is away, delivering what you promise, keeping your word, honoring a guarantee, doing what's right, not cutting corners in workmanship, not charging exorbitant rates just because you can, are all examples of ill-gotten gains. Ill-gotten gain corrupts. But earning your way builds character.
Integrity is how you treat the least.
Lincoln was once asked, "What is a measure of a person's character?" And he said, "You know, my experience is that most people think that the true measure of a person's character is how they respond to adversity. I have found", Lincoln said, "that the real test of a person's character is to give them power. And I have been surprised how often I have been disappointed by people's character when they have been given power."
Integrity is what you do when you have the upper hand. Are you merciful? Are you just? Are you fair? Proverbs 23:10-11 (NIV) says, "Do not move the ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you." Proverbs 20:28 (NIV) says, "Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure." Isn't that also true of an employer? A manager? A CEO? Coach? When you use your power to love, people will honor you. When used for ill-gotten gain, people will turn on you.
Integrity is being real.
We live in a culture that is all about maintaining appearances and images. This is why we're more concerned with getting an 'A' than with earning an 'A'.
Proverbs 13:7 (NIV) says, "One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth." Which type of person are you? Proverbs 12:9 (NIV) says, "Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food." Proverbs 22:1 (NIV) says, "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." Proverbs 22:29 (NIV) says, "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men." Integrity is spending more time becoming somebody than pretending to be somebody. You may think that you are fooling people, but you are only fooling yourself. Stay far away from people consumed with maintaining appearances. They will destroy you even as they destroy themselves.
We could go on and on like this. Proverbs has much more to say about integrity in addition to all the things we've outlined in this series. But I will end with one last point.
Integrity is honoring the Lord.
Proverbs 30:8-9 (NIV) says, "Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." Proverbs 15:3 (NIV) says, "The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good."
Is it enough for you to honor the Lord? Is it enough to have your basic needs satisfied? Is it enough to know that God sees you, and to seek to please him in everything? Proverbs 16:3 (NIV) says, "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."
Such is the essence of integrity.