Integrity

The speaker has had experiences with real estate agents and has been concerned about their honesty. They believe that integrity is important when dealing with property transactions. Anglicare, an organization, also values integrity and promotes trust and respect. The speaker mentions a biblical reference where the Apostle Paul defends his integrity when people accuse him of being untrustworthy. The speaker concludes that integrity is important because God has integrity, and followers of Jesus, like Paul, should also strive to have integrity. Over the past year I have dealt with a number of real estate agents as we have sold a property, rented a property, and bought a property. In these dealings I have been concerned as to whether the agent has been honest with me. Are they telling me the truth? Are they hiding things about this property from me? For when you sell, buy, or rent a property, you want the agent to be honest with you and not hide anything. Another way of saying this is, you want the agent to have integrity. At Anglicare, integrity is one of our core values. To quote from our VMV statement, integrity means we are honest and transparent in the way we treat others and actively promote a culture of trust and respect. To live with integrity means we can be trusted. People can trust that we mean what we say. People can trust that we will do what we say. Integrity is a core value of Anglicare because God has integrity and wants His followers to live with integrity. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Corinth, talks about integrity. Paul had to change his plans to visit the church, so some people are saying that when Paul says, yes, he really means no, and when he says no, he really means yes. In other words, they are saying Paul does not have integrity and so Paul cannot be trusted. To the claim that Paul does not have integrity, he replies, You may be asking why I changed my plan. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the world who say yes when they really mean no? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between yes and no. For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between yes and no. He is God's ultimate yes. He always does what He says, for all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding yes. To Corinthians 1.17.20, in what Paul writes he is making a link between being a follower of Jesus and having integrity because God has integrity. Can you see the link? Let me explain. When we look at Jesus, we can see that God always keeps His word. God's yes is yes. God's no is no. God has integrity and so God can be trusted. Paul follows Jesus Christ. Paul told the Corinthians about Jesus Christ. For Paul, not to have integrity would be to go against Jesus Christ and to give Christ a bad name among the Corinthians. So Paul acts with integrity with the Corinthians. His yes is yes. His no is no.