Integrity is an essential virtue that involves the necessity of truth. Without honesty, hard work will inescapably result in a dead end.
It has been said that if we start well but don’t end well, they will remember the latter more than the former. Our legacies are not how we start, but the way we end. If this is true, Shakespeare is spot-on when he says, “No legacy is so rich as honesty.”
Many businesspeople and entrepreneurs started with integrity but ended in scandal. This is also true for any ambitious journey–from romantic relationships that begin with love and passion but crumble in infidelity to college students who begin doing their best in their classes but fail because of cheating; from sincere and anointed pastors who launch their ministries with power and accountability but fall into financial embezzlements to business persons who start businesses with integrity but fall into corruption. Dishonest gain renders failure at its deepest level.
Jesus teaches the importance of confronting the truth for its liberating impact on success. In John 8:32, Jesus says, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Clearly, Jesus evokes the intricate relationship between truth and freedom. There is freedom in truth. There is bondage in dishonesty.
True success is in freedom. Therefore, it is rooted and grounded in truth. Many people work hard and gain a lot but are not actually successful. For instance, dishonest gain is not true success. If we are to be successful according to God’s Word, we must pursue our visions fully, cognizant that our pursuit is with integrity.
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