Integrity

Integrity

Today’s Scripture Selection: Psalm 25:21

“May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.”

Integrity matters.

There are so many that seem to want to take short cuts in life.

They cut corners or tell a little white lie.

They find ways to justify things they know, deep down, they really shouldn’t justify.

They rationalize.

They blame.

And everyone gets hurt a little in the process – sometimes more than a little – because integrity matters.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I am not sitting here, self-righteously pointing the finger.

I’ve done my own share of cutting corners, telling a little white lie, justifying un-justifiable things, rationalizing, and blaming.  I’m human – so I’ve done all that at one time or another.

And, I’d guess that – if you are honest – you would have to say you have done it too.

Still, integrity matters.

So let’s do what the Psalmist was unashamed to do.

Let’s ask God for help.

Let’s seek what we need from God to be able to do it.

Even if in the past we haven’t.

And our world will be just a little better for it.

Prayer: Lord, help me to be one in whom you  see integrity.  AMEN.

By Paul Simrell

The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program. Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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