Your Integrity...

At times, God will be the only witness to your righteous behavior. Sometimes God is the only one who will understand your motives. Sometimes you will do all you know God has asked you to do, only to face ridicule from others. At such times all you can do is maintain your integrity, trusting that God always keeps His eyes on you. God looks favorably upon those who walk with integrity, doing what they know is right, regardless of how others perceive their actions. - Blackaby

It's interesting that this devotional comes at this time in my life.  Whether other people are aware of it or not, I am aware of what's said of me much of the time. I do try my best to do what's right in God's eyes.  People and corporations may not believe me when I speak but I know that God sees and knows.

I don't work solely for the accolades of men or women.  I am about the work that God has for me to do for Him.  It matters not what company or person my integrity matters to me.

Yesterday I had an incident of trying to do the right thing by reporting a defective product to a well-known company.  Their response was to want me to ship it back to them. I tried to explain the complexity of the situation to them in regards to returning things.  The result being my integrity being called into question.

The person I was interacting with went back 3 years to see about my returning things to them that were defective.  Years, not months.  It hurt that I was trying to do the right thing and was treated as such.  (Returns are no where as easy as getting items from them. The cost in time, travel, gas, shipping materials.)

But as Blackaby points out quite often the only one who will know the truth in a matter will only be God.  Quite often the only one who will see the good or bad that you do will only be God.

In Noah's world the only one who understood his integrity was the Lord.
In Joseph's day, the only one who understood his integrity was the Lord.
In David's day, being chased by Saul, the only one who understood the truth was the Lord.

Likewise all the evil kings of Israel and Judah, the Lord knew all about their behavior too.  In Jeremiah 17 it says "“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds."

I may not be understood by those around me, I may have a bullseye on me for trying to do the right thing, but I know that my God sees.

At work I have no agenda.  Nothing more than trying to do the best that I can.  To succeed and help others to do so as well.

As someone aptly said "Integrity is what you do when nobody's looking."

It matters not what it is. Relationships, work, driving, cleaning it really means everything.

Consider what you do when you think nobody's looking.  Consider that God always is.