Doing the right thing even
when no one is looking it’s called integrity!
I was asked to speak on ways
of increasing our integrity.
The first thing that comes to
mind when I think of Integrity is the 13th article of faith: “We
believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good
to all men. Indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul. We
believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to
be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous lovely or of good
report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
Here are some definitions
from a dictionary for the word integrity:
The quality of being honest and having strong
moral principles.
In Spanish when I think of
the word Integrity I think of the word “Integro” or the state of being whole, intact,
entire, or undiminished
A sound, perfect condition.
Sister Carol B Thomas said
this about the subject of integrity.
“Integrity makes you whole
and complete. Integrity will bring a twinkle to your eye and a look of
confidence that will magnetically draw people to you.
She told a story of a time
when she was 16. She wrote in her journal all the qualities she wanted in a
future husband, she wrote things like:
testimony, good looks, sense
of humor, smart, educated. She thought these were all good qualities. But years
later when her oldest daughter asked: “Mom,
what do you think is the most important quality to look for in a husband?” By
then she had been married for many years. She knew the answer to that question.
She told her daughter: Becky, I believe
the most important quality we can possess is integrity. How I love the value of
integrity…
Sister Thomas continued.
“you can develop a love for integrity as you discipline yourselves through
daily prayer and scripture study. The Holy Ghost can inspire you with a greater
desire for honesty and integrity. Make a decision tonight that you will read
your scriptures and say your prayers every day for the rest of your life. You
see, scriptures and prayer go together like peanut butter and jelly. They will
help you stay close to the Church and close to the Lord.”
Reading your scriptures and
saying your prayers invites the Spirit to be with you. When President Spencer W. Kimball was 15
years old, he attended stake conference and heard a speaker ask everyone who
had read the entire Bible to raise their hands. President Kimball knew that he had not read and felt a shame.”
After the meeting was over, he ran home as fast as he could, grabbed the Bible
off the shelf, and climbed the stairs to the attic. His brothers teased him,
saying, “Why try? You’ll never finish it.” But he did. Almost a year later he
finished reading the Bible. The integrity he had as a 15-year-old boy was one
of the things that made him a great prophet of God.
Integrity means to do what
you say you will do; you keep your word.
Integrity is to have the moral courage to make our actions consistent
with our knowledge of what we know is right and wrong.
Like Job of old, we need to
say, “Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.” (Job 27:5.) Though he had lost almost everything he valued—his family,
his friends, his health, his wealth—he refused to give up his integrity. In
contrast, many today trade away their integrity for a very small price tag. A
person who shoplifts trades priceless integrity for a meager gain. A person who
falsifies documents. One who avoids paying bills. Husbands or wives who are
unfaithful to their spouses trade their prized integrity for a moment of
pleasure. Integrity is so precious that it is beyond price; it is invaluable.
Joseph, the son of Jacob, who
was sold as a slave, was a model of integrity. When approached by Potiphar’s
wife, Joseph refused and fled from her improper advances because of his
personal righteousness and because he would not violate Potiphar’s trust.
Joseph’s integrity placed
him among the greatest of our Heavenly Father’s sons. He did what was right and
good; he was trustworthy and incorruptible, self-disciplined never to violate a
trust. Because of his integrity and righteousness, Joseph was favored and
blessed of the Lord in every circumstance. His life is evidence that “all
things work together for good to [those who] love God.” (Rom. 8:28.)
“When we think of people we
know with integrity. we can easily spot them. They’re honest. They do the right
thing when nobody is watching. They keep their word and they keep our
confidences. They repay their debts, and they clean up their own messes. They
accept responsibility for their actions.”
This is the quality that I
mostly admire in my husband Daniel. He was born of goodly parents and his
father was too an honorable man. Daniel
can probably tell you story after story of how so many people looked up to his
father. My father was also known to be a man who was honest. Once when he sold
a business, he had a meeting with the new owners in front of his employees to
announce the transition. Afterwards in private as he was turning in his
accounting records the new owner asked: Now you can tell me here in private how
you really did business. My father looked at him puzzled and told him. I don’t
have any secrets or anything you need to know different than what I already
told you. My father told us time after time how proud he felt for never giving
in to paying bribes or cutting corners or taking advantage of anyone. He was
fair and square when he did business with people and always honored his word. My
Father learned to be honest as a young man from His parents.
Speaking to the Youth
President Hinckley said: Be clean: We live in a world that is filed with filth.
Evil is all around us. It is on the television screen. It is at the movies. It
is in the popular literature. It is on the internet. Don’t waste your time in
destructive entertainment. Do not fall in the trap of pornography. Avoid evil
talk. Do not take the name of the Lord in vain and choose your friends
carefully. There is no need for any
Latter-day Saint to try drugs. Stay clean from these Mind-altering and habit
forming addictions.
Be True: Be true to your own
convictions. You know what is right, and you know what is wrong. You know when
you are doing the proper thing, you know when you are giving strength to the
right cause. Be loyal, be faithful, be true. There is nothing more beautiful in
this world than a young woman and Young man who is clean in thought and word
and deed…In all this world there is no substitute for personal integrity. It
includes honor. It includes performance. It includes keeping one’s word. It
includes doing what is right regardless of the circumstances”
President Hinckley was
right. “There is no substitute for personal integrity. It includes honor, …
performance, … keeping one’s word, … doing what is right regardless of the
circumstances.
Growing up in El Salvador, I
was the only member in my family. The home I lived in had a bar. It was a good
size room dedicated for drinking. The bar had every kind of drink there was
from whisky to wine. But I never was curious to have a taste even when it was
available at any time. This bar was the most popular room in my house when
people came to visit us but for me it was like if it didn’t even exist. I had
decided long ago, when I became a member at age nine that I would obey the word
of wisdom with exactness. My grandmother and my aunts took me to Church and
that’s how I became a member.
All my life, I thought I had
impeccable integrity until I met Daniel and knew he was much better than me
when I realized that he doesn’t even say white lies. That is something I have been
guilty of now and then.
Elder Whirlin when speaking
on integrity declared: I have felt impressed to speak today about the need for
integrity—old-fashioned, personal, practical integrity. To me, integrity means
always doing what is right and good, regardless of the immediate consequences.
It means being righteous from the very depth
of our soul, not only in our actions but, more importantly, in our thoughts and
in our hearts. Personal integrity implies such trustworthiness and
incorruptibility that we are incapable of being false to a trust or covenant.
We all have within us the
ability to know what is right and good.
Having received the Spirit
of Christ to know good from evil, we should always choose the good. We need not
be misled, even though fraud, deception, and deceit, often seem to be
acceptable in our world. Lying, stealing, and cheating are commonplace. Integrity,
a firm adherence to the highest moral and ethical standards, is essential to
the life of a true Latter-day Saint.”
In D & C 124:15 we read:
“Blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the
integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right.”
I personally know of no higher praise that
anyone could receive. My parents were not members but they believe in God and they
trusted me. We only had two rules in our home. 1. Remember who you are and what
you stand for and 2. Do your very best in whatever you do.
Both my parents believe in
the Lord so much that I was named Veronica after the woman who went up to wipe
Jesus face. There were times that people would call me some other cute name
like Victoria and secretly I wished my name was Victoria because I liked it,
until my mother explained the significance of my name. She told me that
Veronica means true image. She was a follower.
She was a disciple and a friend of Christ and I was named after her.
Elder Bednar shares some of
his thoughts on this subject.
People of integrity and
honesty not only practice what they preach, they are what they preach. And the
Savior stands as the finest example.
You and I must strive to
become people of integrity and to be honest with God, honest with ourselves,
and honest with other people.
Integrity and honesty with
ourselves result from knowing and understanding who we are as sons and
daughters of God.
You and I bear the
responsibility to become people of integrity and honesty—people who are true
and trustworthy when no one is watching and when no one else is around.
Becoming people of integrity
and honesty does not occur quickly or all at once. … This gradual change of
heart is one that the Lord accomplishes within us, through the power of His
Spirit.
Speaking to the “followers
of Christ” Moroni 7:15-17 Mormon said: “It is given unto you to judge, that ye
may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know
with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
“For behold, the Spirit of
Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I
show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and
to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of
Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. “But
whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny
him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the
devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to
do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject
themselves unto him.”
Have you ever wondered what
qualified Jesus to be given the role as Savior of the world? He was the
Firstborn of the Father, chosen from the beginning. But what really made Him
perfect was His integrity and loyalty to His Father in Heaven.
We know that throughout His
life, He consistently made right choices. He had the moral courage to make His
actions consistent with His knowledge of right and wrong. He showed us the way.
As servants of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we can do it! Our honest effort to improve our integrity allows
God to increase our power to do it. Let me repeat that: Our honest effort to
improve our integrity allows God to increase our power to do it.
Bottom line: How do we increase our integrity?
I believe that as we read the scriptures and say our prayers—for me, that has
been the magic formula—the Holy Ghost will help us in our quest to strengthen
and develop our integrity.
And I bear witness of this
things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Con amor,
Vero
No comments:
Post a Comment