Leaving Behind Integrity

“The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” (Pr 20:7 AV)

There are two things of note here.  Both are related to one another.  The first is the way we live does impact our children.  If we live in our integrity, it rubs off on those who we raise.  Integrity has natural blessings as a result.  If we live with integrity, we leave behind a heritage for our children to follow.  But we also leave behind the blessings that resulted from our choices.  Then there is a second truth I see here.  Note Solomon does not say his children’s children are blessed after him.  The example of integrity only goes one generation.  Each generation is responsible to leave character to the next generation as their inheritance from a faithful parent.  Each parent must decide how he or she will live for the sake of the children.  Even though there are godly grandparents out there, it will be the parent that influences the future of their child.

I can brag on my dad quite a bit here.  He wasn’t the perfect father.  There is no such thing.  I certainly was and am not perfect.  My father did many things right.  But if I were to boil them down to one character trait that is elevated above the rest it would have to be his integrity.  When my father was convinced of the rightness of a thing, there was nothing that would discourage him to live by that tenant.  It didn’t matter what it was.  If he was convinced it was right or wrong, that was the end of it and there was no compromise with it.  I have told many stories of events in his life that reflect his character.  So many examples, but I will choose one in particular.  As a scoutmaster, he did not believe in shortcuts.  If the manual or rules mandated something was to be done a certain way, that was exactly how we were going to do it.  Without deviation!  We were one of the only troops that did not adapt and compromise during competitions.  Other troops would skirt the rules, but not my Dad.  If we were to hike five miles for a merit badge, the distance wouldn’t be one yard short of it.  If there were ten knots we needed to tie, ten it was.  If there was a meal to cook outdoors, it would be from scratch.  There was no compromising with him.  If it was right, it was right.

How we choose to live our lives impacts those who follow.  There is no getting around that.  One preacher once said, “That which we allow in moderation, our children will allow in access.”  My father knew this.  I was faithful to church every Sunday no matter what.  Serious illness was the only excuse.  The weather did not keep us from church.  Minor illnesses did not keep us from church.  Employment did not keep us from church.  If we do not live by our integrity, we will curse the following generation.  And they just might curse the grandchildren.  If we are a parent, we cannot lean on the integrity of our parents to raise our children.  It must come from us.  This is the warning.  But this is also our encouragement.  If we live for the LORD, it will matter to our children.  If they live for the LORD, it will matter to our grandchildren.

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