A Psalm 1 Man

Image courtesy of Simon Howden
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The integrity of the upright will guide them. - Proverbs 11:3 (NKJV)
     
      My father inspected buildings being constructed for the state, making sure the contractors followed the blueprints. Having worked construction himself when he was younger, he knew too well how corners could be cut and a building's integrity undermined. He refused many a contractor's overtures, often gifts of liquor stashed in the back seat of his car. His colleagues soon recognized he could not be bought. He would not allow his personal integrity to be undermined.
      The word integrity comes from two Latin words that together mean "untouched, whole, entire." These two Latin roots also give us integrate, which means "to weave or blend separate entities into a working whole or unit."
      Personal integrity cannot be put on and off like a garment. Rather it is woven into the moral fabric of our lives over time. We weave it in each time we keep a promise or tell the truth no matter what it costs us, whether it's claiming all our income on our tax return, returning extra change we received by mistake, or paying the difference when we're undercharged. We weave it in each time we admit our mistakes and take responsibility for our words and actions.
      My father was a man of integrity - or, as I like to phrase it, a "Psalm 1" man.
      What characterizes a Psalm 1 man, a man of integrity?
      Two things: what he doesn't do and what he does.
       He doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand around with sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers (v. 1). Notice the verbs show a progression: walking, standing, sitting.     
     Walking in Scripture implies a way of life. The Psalm 1 man walks, all right, but he takes the narrow road, often alone (Matthew 7:13-14). He walks by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), and he walks in the light (John 8:12). As a result, the man of integrity walks securely (Proverbs 10:9).
      The Psalm 1 man doesn't "stand in the way of sinners." He doesn't hang out with those for whom wickedness is a way of life. He knows that "bad company corrupts good character" (1 Corinthians 15:33). The man of integrity keeps moving, knowing if he walks with the wise he'll become wise, and if he associates with fools, he'll get in trouble (Proverbs 13:20 NLT).
      And the Psalm 1 man doesn't "sit in the seat of mockers." Sitting implies settling in and getting comfortable with those who mock God, ridicule Him, and defiantly reject Him. The man of integrity doesn't join in with those who scorn God and His way. Indeed, he stands up for that which is good and true, right and just, noble and holy.
      The Psalm 1 man knows God's Word so well it's a part of him, nourishing him and guiding him, causing him to thrive (verses 2-3).
      All it takes is one man of integrity to influence the world around him. Be that Psalm 1 man.

      May our nation and world be filled with Psalm 1 men. Amen.

More tea: Read Psalm 1

To risk it all

   
The integrity of the upright will guide them. – Proverbs 11:3 NKJV
   
   
If you’re a faithful reader of this blog, you know I love baseball. My family loves baseball. And I’m a diehard Pittsburgh Pirates fan.
   
I’m known to keep track of a Pirates game on my cell phone while sitting in the bleachers cheering on one of my grandchildren. All three who live in the area (next door, in fact) play ball. Our oldest grandson, Brent, and his younger brother, Deagen, both play baseball. Granddaughter Madison plays softball.
   
Baseball is the love of Brent’s life. He eats and breathes baseball even in the off-season, working on his swing and fielding techniques. He was the player taken off the field by ambulance when a violent collision with another player in the outfield resulted in a compound fracture of the upper bone in his left arm. There went All Star season that year. But he still sat in the dugout, arm in a sling after surgery at Children’s Hospital, keeping the scorebook.
   
Then the following spring he broke his little finger playing dodge ball in gym class. Now finger breaks these days aren’t too big of a deal, but this break occurred in the joint at the base of his finger, where it’s connected to the hand. He was swinging a bat and fielding balls within three weeks. He never missed a beat.
   
Like I said, he loves the game.
   
That’s why this year’s injury is so frustrating.
   
Actually it occurred last year when he dove for a fly ball in the outfield, jamming his shoulder upon impact with the ground. We all thought it was a jammed shoulder that would eventually heal on its own.
   
Only it didn’t.
   
The pain, which never completely went away, worsened when he began practice for tryouts for the high school JV team.
   
Now, Brent gives 101-percent and will ignore pain so he could play the game he loves.
   
But when the intense pain could no longer be ignored, a visit to the doctor was in order. An MRI revealed a bone break in the shoulder.
   
“Rest it for four weeks,” the doctor said, handing him an excuse for gym. If rest and physical therapy didn’t work, surgery was the next option.
   
Here he was in the middle of tryouts. With a broken shoulder. The first game in three weeks.
   
What to do? Keep playing hurt and continue to hide the injury from the coaches until after tryouts? Or tell the coaches he’d be out for at least four weeks, risking a chance to make the team?
   
He told the coaches.
   
“I could have waited until after tryouts and then handed them my doctor’s excuse,” he told me, “but I didn’t feel that was right.”
   
What integrity!
   
It made me think—Am I willing to risk it all to do the right thing?
   
I sure hope so. A young man at 15 set the bar for this grandma and reminded her there are things more important than fulfilling our dreams.
   
Oh, yes—Brent made the team.
   
So you know where this grandma will be come ball season.
   
   
Thank you, Father, for showing me integrity is not dead. Amen.
   

More tea: Read Psalm 1