Paul and Barnabas admonished the heathen to turn from “vanities unto the living God.” One cannot trust in the Lord and simultaneously trust in anything else. In order for an individual to be saved, he must repent of trusting in anything other than the Lord. One aspect of repentance involves ceasing to trust vanity and turning one’s faith toward the living and true God. This saving faith needs to become a living faith following salvation. Believers should consistently turn from “vain thoughts” and love the law of God (Psalm 119:113). They should turn from the vain labours that spend their strength for nought (Isaiah 49:4) and be “steadfast . . . in the work of the Lord” knowing that their “labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Additionally, believers should turn from “vain words” (Ephesians 5:6) and hold “forth the word of life” (Philippians 2:16).
When men follow after vanity, they themselves become vain. An individual must make a conscious decision to turn from walking after the Lord to pursue vanity (Jeremiah 2:5). Those who follow after vanity are void of understanding (Proverbs 12:11) and end up in poverty (Proverbs 28:19), sometimes both spiritually and physically. David expressed his concern in this area when he said, “I have not sat with vain persons” (Psalm 26:4). He knew the danger of following vanity and declared that he refused even to sit with vain persons. In Psalm 119:37, the penman pleaded with the Lord for help in turning away his eyes from beholding vanity. God desires and wills for the saints of God to cease from following after vanity.
The Bible says that vanity is meaningless and empty, yet men love vanity. It fills their imaginations (Psalm 2:1), their thoughts (Psalm 94:11), and their speech (Psalm 144:8, 11). Vanity consumes man so much that he will weary himself for it (Habakkuk 2:13). In comparison to the vanities of this life, most people spend a brief moment in the eternal word of God. Far too many Christians fear to speak God’s righteousness but demonstrate boldness as they speak on behalf of their favorite vanities. As men tend to forget to spend time with the Lord, they spend entire days pondering the vanity to be enjoyed later in the day. Is it any wonder why people need so many “pick-me-up” drinks and drugs as they weary themselves in pursuit of vanity.
The Lord redeemed Israel out of Egypt for the purpose of worshipping Him. Instead of willingly serving Him, the nation of Israel turned to vanities. In doing so, they ignited the fire of God’s anger (Deuteronomy 32:21-22). Ultimately, God chose to provoke Israel to jealousy with a people “which are not a people” – the Gentiles. Since Israel had provoked the Lord to anger with their vanities, He was going to use Gentiles, whom Israel knew to be “not a people,” to provoke Israel to anger. The Lord expects the redeemed to flee vanity and give themselves wholly to His work, worship, and will. The Lord has now redeemed Jew and Gentile “for his name” (Acts 15:14), and He expects the same from each of us.
The book of Ecclesiastes contains documentation of Solomon’s life experiment apart from God. He examined the worth of subjects involving happiness, wealth, labour, and death. Ultimately, he concluded that life “under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:14) was vanity. The word vanity means empty or meaningless. Though Solomon wrote extensively concerning vanity, he was not the only person in the Bible to declare the vanity of life. In fact, Solomon’s father David declared that “every man at his best state is altogether vanity” (Psalm 39:5). King David added that if both men of high and low degree were laid in a balance together, they would be “lighter than vanity” (Psalm 62:9). Thus, regardless of worldly accomplishments and accolades, a life void of God remains meaningless.
It has often been said that ignorance is bliss, meaning that to be wise is folly. Nothing can be further from the truth. As with most areas of life, a man must recognize the benefits of integrity before he will truly find its protection of utmost importance. Our passage describes one benefit of integrity when it says that integrity preserves a person. Preservation can refer to several areas like being kept from trouble or kept from death. Both of these would be considered invaluable. Additionally, the Bible says that integrity upholds the believer (Psalm 41:12). This means that the Lord holds men up in the midst of troublous times. Proverbs 11:3 declares another benefit: “The integrity of the upright shall guide them.” Praise God! Integrity guides men in the right way and keeps them from trouble!
Simply for being a man of integrity, Job suffered greatly. No matter what obstacles Job was forced to overcome, he would not relinquish his integrity. In the midst of Satan’s attacks, the Lord commended Job for his integrity when He said that Job “holdeth fast his integrity” (Job 2:3). When Job’s wife verbally joined in the attacks, she pressured him to relinquish his integrity. Job wisely responded to her by saying, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.” Job was not willing to relinquish his integrity. There are things men consider important in life, but few realize the paramount importance of maintaining one’s integrity. The Bible repeatedly stresses the importance of integrity: “Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool” (Proverbs 19:1). This passage illustrates that the most important things in life cannot be purchased with money, nor can they be lost due to the absence of wealth.
As this study has shown, integrity is a matter of the heart, yet it also affects every other aspect of a man’s life. Though men sometimes try to separate an individual’s walk from his true heart’s condition, the Bible reveals the futility of such. Testifying to this truth, the Bible speaks of walking in integrity (Psalm 26:1, 11; Proverbs 19:1; Proverbs 20:7). The Bible says that “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:16, 20) and this principle applies to one’s integrity too. Our passage from Proverbs reveals that as the “just” man walks in his integrity, his children are likewise blessed because of his walk. The secrets of a person’s heart are often unveiled in his walk. Furthermore, a man who walks in his integrity does not fear the judgment of God (Psalm 26:1). Men need integrity of heart, but that integrity must manifest itself in their daily walk.
The Lord blessed the throne of David and desired to do the same for his posterity. Because the Lord wanted to establish Solomon’s rule, He provided some guidelines for Solomon. One prominent issue involved Solomon following in his father’s footsteps by living with integrity of heart. Integrity is very much a matter of the heart. In fact, four times in scripture integrity is associated with the heart. Twice the Bible refers to the integrity of Abimelech’s heart (Genesis 20:5-6) and another two times it refers to the integrity of David’s heart (1 Kings 9:4; Psalm 78:72). Though these men had little else in common, both understood that integrity involved a matter of the heart. A lack of integrity is first and foremost a heart issue.
Men used to be commended for their level of integrity and one's handshake was considered a man’s bond. As societies continue to crumble from the pollution of immorality, men of integrity are quickly disappearing. Unfortunately, churches seem far from immune to this moral decline. What is integrity? In a narrow sense, integrity as used in scripture can be difficult to pinpoint. The word integrity occurs sixteen times in scripture. By considering each occurrence, one can discover clues that provide insight as to its meaning. Integrity is contrasted with the words like perverse (Proverbs 19:1) and perverseness (Proverbs 11:3). Conversely, integrity is used in conjunction with words like upright (Job 2:3; Proverbs 11:3) and uprightness (1 Kings 9:4; Psalm 25:21). In our passage, the word integrity is used alongside the word innocency (Genesis 20:5). These facts would lead the believer to realize that integrity speaks of a moral purity and moral correctness.
