INTEGRITY, BE MY FRIEND

KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE
With Remi Akano Sr
E-mail: kpeditorpublisher@yahoo.co.uk

It’s five o’clock in the morning. The lilting sound of Moses Olusegun Oyebola’s electronic organ was wafting through the air into the room, rousing me from sleep, finishing off the task the cock crow from my phone had started ten minutes earlier.

Now since that early December day that my wife and I found ourselves moving in with this wonderful man and his indescribably warm wife, both of them pastors, this has been the experience. And although the pattern is similar – not one day has been exactly like another at these morning devotionals. There is always something to take away; a food for thought; a word of knowledge or wisdom; encouragement. But for reasons that I cannot easily fathom, there was to be something extra special about this Wednesday.

Praise and worship over, Mrs Jennifer Oyebola, a woman who, like her husband, has a zeal for things of God that constantly challenges those around them to higher heights, began to read from the well-known “Our Daily Bread,” a publication of Radio Bible Class. The piece titled “Look It Up” written by one of RBC’s staff writers, Anne M. Cetas reads in part:

“Some online dictionaries report each year on what words were looked up the most on their site…The most popular lookup for the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary that year (2005) was the word integrity. The definition given is: “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.” It’s used to describe those who are unwilling to be bribed or morally corrupted. Why was that word on the top of the list? Could it be because integrity is so lacking that many don’t know what it looks like in someone’s life?”
Cetas went on to cite, as God’s example of integrity, the life of Joseph as contained in the Bible. Her words: “Potiphar had put him in charge of overseeing ‘his house and all that he had’ (Genesis 39:5). When he was propositioned by his master’s wife, Joseph refused, saying, ‘How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ (verse 9). He knew what God’s standards were, and he chose to stand for the right—at the cost of his freedom.” She concluded: “Integrity - look it up in Genesis 39. Then live it out in God’s strength”.
A number of things struck me about this piece of exhortation, such that I felt a need to read and meditate more on the issue of integrity. This is surprising, given the fact that the issue had been on the front-burner for sometime within the men’s group that I have the priviledge of coordinating. But meditate on the subject, I did, all the same and as I did, I begun to see why.
Cetas raised a very important point, one that I believe is so tragically applicable to our situation in Nigeria, when she asked the question: “Could it be because integrity is so lacking that many don’t know what it looks like in someone’s life?” That question speaks to the heart of our national condition today.
Who, for instance, modelled integrity in public life in our nation in the eight years of democratic rule preceding the unfolding Yar’Adua administration? Is it the governor being hounded by the law for sundry malfeasance? Is it the local government chairman who rose from dirt poor to stinking rich while his constituents wallow in poverty? Is it the helmsman who taught Sunday School, identified with and revelled in photo opportunities with great men of God from all over the world; never lost a chance to take the pulpit at mega-churches and Holy Ghost meetings, yet now stands accused of some of the most despicable things you can think of by his own son?
Of the people who took centre stage at national events, graced the cover of celebrity magazines, won awards of all kinds, how many truly mirrored integrity?. That’s what I tried to highlight in the introductory part of my HEROES 2007 piece a couple of weeks back. Our nation needs godly heroes otherwise the future is bleak because the younger ones would always need dictionaries to figure out what the word means!
Also noteworthy for me was the definition of integrity by the dictionary quoted by Cetas as “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values”; as well as what appeared to be her own take on who the word describes: “It’s used to describe those who are unwilling to be bribed or morally corrupted.” I agree absolutely with both definition and application and would to God that we would all begin anew and afresh to hunger and thirst to have the word apply to us by our adherence to high moral values.
Cetas’ example of integrity taken from the Bible is particularly instructive. So straight as a rod was Joseph, that, as a child he would report the wrong-doings of his brothers to their father; he would not hold back the telling of his dreams even when it was obvious it did not please his brothers! When he had the opportunity of sleeping his way precariously to the firmer control of Potiphar’s fortunes by becoming the wife’s lover, he thought about God! Of course his integrity got him into slavery and into jail, but it also inexorably got him to the prime ministerial office of Egypt. Please read the story of Joseph again in Genesis 39.
I wish especially to call on all who lead or aspire to lead in any and ever area of our national life to take a close look at their lives by asking these questions. I urge that both the leader, the aspiring leader as well as the led begin to see integrity as the PRIMARY QUALIFICATION for leadership. This is because, ironically, it is in leadership that integrity, character, adherence to strict code of moral behaviour are in the shortest of supply. That is because good looks, oratorical prowess, liberality with half-truths and down right falsehoods and in some cases competence are rated higher than integrity. So are access to ill-gotten wealth and an easy recourse to violence.
Incidentally, as I prayerfully studied and meditated on this subject, I came across a wonderful piece written by one of Cetas’ colleagues in answer to a question I know must be dancing in your head as you read the last few paragraphs: “How important is good personal character to effective leadership?” Permit me quote excerpts from Dan Vander Lugt’s answer to that important question:
“Some people don't think it (good personal character) is very important. Since leadership requires flexibility, some think that a person with high ideals and deep moral convictions will be less pragmatic or realistic than a person with fewer scruples. In the short term it's undeniable that unscrupulous people sometimes have an advantage. People often find personal accountability and a long-range vision less appealing than immediate advantages and an opportunity to fall in line behind a charismatic leader”.
“Even the psalmist eloquently described the temporary success of the wicked (Psalm 37:35; 73:3 ). Jesus also recognized the short-term advantages of the unprincipled (Luke 16:8 ). But although unprincipled people in power may gain quick success, they and their followers always reap the consequences of their immorality and opportunism. The Old Testament writers vividly described the results of evil leadership as did Jesus.
“In the long term, however, a person of integrity has the advantage. Good character may limit a person's options at times, but wisdom flows from good character (In the long term, however, a person of integrity has the advantage. Good character may limit a person's options at times, but wisdom flows from good character (Job 28:28).
Under the “For Further Thought” column, Cetas concluded her exhortation with a few questions we all need to ask ourselves. And they are questions, I believe, we all ought to ask ourselves at this, the onset of a new year: “In what ways have I been a person of integrity when it was tough? When have I failed? Whose standards do I live by? What do I need to change?” I assure you that yours sincerely has asked himself these questions, and did not rate so high as to talk down to anyone; which is not my intention, anyway. But I assure you, I am well on my way! Are you?

First published in a Nigerian Daily, the Sunday Independent, published in Lagos Nigeria.