Integrity

Proverbs 22:1 (HCSB) - A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.

A couple of stories for your enjoyment and thought

Story: In a small country village in Sicily, there were two brothers, renown members of the local Mafia. They were mean, bad and very rich. No one had a good word to say about them. Indeed, everyone seemed to have a story about how they had either been cheated or maligned by the brothers. One day, one of the brothers, Luigi died. The surviving brother, Guiseppe - with a rare touch of conscience, felt that something nice should be said about his brother Luigi at the funeral. So he went to the local vicar and said: “I know that folk in the village hate us, and they dont know the half of what we have been up to. However, I want you to say something nice about Luigi at his funeral. I want you to say that “Luigi was a saint” when you preach. If you will agree to do that, I’ll show my gratitude by giving £100,000 towards the repair of the church roof. And here’s the cheque. If you don’t, you’ll be in big trouble with me and don’t forget that my reputation is not for nothing.” The vicar thought about it for a minute, agreed and took the cheque for £100 K. A week later, the whole village turned out for the funeral and everyone wondered what the vicar would say. After the opening hymns had been sung and the readings had been read, the vicar climbed up into the pulpit and delivered his sermon. Eyeing Guiseppe, sitting in the front row, the vicar said how evil the pair of them had been. He went on to say how Luigi had cheated, not only in business but on his wife, how he had lied and how had had no concern for anyone but himself. In fact he went on to say what a downright scoundrel Luigi had been. After ten minutes of preaching in this vein, the vicar, being the man of integrity, ended his sermon by simply saying, "But compared to his brother, Guiseppe - Luigi was a saint.”

There is an old story about two neighbors, a baker and a farmer. The baker began to be suspicious of the farmer, wondering if he wasn't getting his money's worth when he paid for a pound of butter. He weighed the farmer's butter on several occasions, and the butter consistently weighed less than a full pound. Enraged, he had him arrested for fraud. The judge asked the farmer at the trial, "I presume you have scales?" "Yes, of course, Your Honor," the farmer replied. "And I presume you use standard weights to measure your goods?” the judge asked. “Yes, generally,” said the farmer. “But I don’t use them when serving the baker,” replied the farmer. "Then how do you hope to weigh accurately the butter you sell to your neighbor?" the judge asked. "That's easy," the farmer said. "When the baker began to buy butter from me, I decided to buy my bread from him. I've been using his one-pound loaves to balance my scales when I portion out his butter.

How we live our lives is crucial.  When our time is done here on this earth, what will people be able to say about us when it comes to the type of integrity we lived with?  More importantly, what will God say?

Have a Wonderful Week!

Scott Forsythe

Dean of Student & Spiritual Life