josh whitehead

Pride. Fear. Every leader battles with them. And if those two did not beat you up, welcome to Battle #3. I’ve written on it before here.

Battle #3 – Personal Integrity

Every day that you wake up you enter a battlefield for your integrity. Particularly for those in ministry, but for everyone, Satan desires to destroy you at the root of who you are, and that is where your integrity is found. Integrity has to do with a moral code, and for believers it relates to how you live out God’s “code” in your life. I think it is seen in this verse:

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

God’s “code” is His Word. His word is to be an active part of your life. It is to affect your words, your actions and the very core of who you are. But there is always that part of our flesh that tells us it’s okay to cut corners or tell “white lies”. But it goes deeper than that. Our flesh desires for us to do the most vile things.

So, in my life, I have set up barriers to guard my personal integrity. Here are some simple things that I do:

• Family. I give my wife access into every area of my life – NOTHING is off-limits. She has access to my calendar, twitter account (she daily cans all the porn and marketing followers), and ultimately any area that she wants access to. To honor her, I never have lunch alone with another female or ride in a car alone with a female.

• Church. I do not have authority to sign checks related to the churches bank account. All of my receipts are detailed for expenditures. Another person sees all of my purchase requests. I do not have access to passwords related to internet firewalls, etc. I share every decision that I make with a confidant who knows my thoughts behind all that I do (okay, that’s pretty easy since there are so few). I also share with my pastor (another great friend and confidant).

• Friends. There are at least 3 guys that have every right to question anything in my life at any time. I may not like it, but they know they have the access. I’m careful about my close friends – 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” And, my close friends are all male. My best friend is my wife – I’d rather be with her than anyone else.

You may think that I’m legalistic – good. Honestly, when it comes to my personal integrity, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect it. Everything in this world is tempting me to let it go, and I am doing everything to hold on. It’s not a pride deal – it’s an honor deal. I want to honor my Savior, my Family, my Church and my Friends. Daily I beg God to let me finish strong.

So, two questions. Ladies, what do you do to protect your personal integrity? Is it different than guys? Guys, what do you do that I am missing?