Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him. (Daniel 6:13-14)
The first thing that people would know about you if you truly have the right character would be integrity. We are going to study a man who was the epitome of the word “integrity.” It is because of his integrity that we even know who he was and why he has a book in the Bible. His name was Daniel. Anyone familiar with the Bible thinks about Daniel and the lion’s den. But what is important about this story is not that Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den. What’s more important is what happened beforehand that resulted in him being thrown into the lion’s den. This story teaches us three tremendous truths about integrity, why it is so important, and why we must have it.
Though not everybody knew Daniel personally, everybody seemed to know about Daniel. If you read the book of Daniel, you will figure out that Daniel’s reputation preceded him. For seven decades, Daniel had proven himself to be a man of absolute, complete, impeccable integrity. Daniel was put in charge of everyone else and was second in command only to the king himself because of his integrity.
What Daniel teaches us is that integrity trumps ability every time. There is no limit to how far anyone can go if they know they can always be trusted to the right thing. He was not promoted because of his temporal seniority, but because of his moral superiority. His character was a cut above everybody else. Even when the jealous administrators of the kingdom tried to find skeletons in Daniel’s closet, they came up empty handed. After putting him under a microscope, all they found was a man who had been honest, hard- working, and holy for 70 years. Daniel is proof that when you live a life of integrity, life becomes surrounded with a force-field of righteousness and goodness that can withstand anything.
Dear Lord, thank you for the example Daniel set on living a life of integrity. I pray that you would give me the strength and boldness to have integrity in all that I say and do. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Topics: Integrity
