Article December 28, 1998 Issue

Integrity: being true to yourself

How to be your best

By Rees Ryder Stevens

Integrity is an essential part of who you are and the way others see you. It is the part of character that resonates most clearly when important decisions or actions are taken. Integrity is the substance of the personal moral fabric (ethics and values of character) that we display and live in our daily public and private lives. It is actually a spiritual quality and motive that colors all our activities and especially how we treat others.

We cannot really change our character the way we change clothes for each activity. One character for business, one for school, one for sports, one for family or home, and another for fly-fishing. Who and what you are is always fundamentally the same.

The inherent character of Christ Jesus—his moral and spiritual values, the substance of who he was—remained consistent at all times. Yet those who thought of themselves as "righteous" and more "deserving" than others experienced his character as a stinging rebuke. On the other hand, those people seeking help were healed of sinfulness and sickness by the same character that they felt as "loving" and "compassionate." How could this be?

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