The Sunday Mail
LifeIsuues with FGK
According to one writer, integrity is choosing courage over comfort; choosing what is right over what is fun or easy; it is choosing to practice our values over just processing them.
It is the discipline of choosing your thoughts based on values rather than personal gain.
Integrity is foregoing convenience for the right thing.
It takes wisdom to know the right path to go, but it takes integrity to choose the path. There is a difference between knowing what to do and actually doing what you know should be done. If the practice of integrity was easy then we could be having many great individuals at the top; but many have remained mediocre due to lack thereof.
Reputation is far more important than how much is in your pocket, integrity is far more important than your career.
A reputation built upon fake integrity will crumble down like a tower built without a foundation. The repercussions are detrimental!
Employees tend to think they should perform according to how much they earn. This is very wrong. They do not realise that a workplace is only an incubator designed to nurture them in some ways that can make them understand character, thinking patterns and discipline better.
Issues like punctuality, efficiency at work, accuracy, team work and team building skills are not only for the benefit of the company, they actually benefit the individual more.
Many people do not see far therefore they do not even aspire to be owners of companies themselves. They would rather waste their time at a workplace doing all sorts of tricks to evade accountability from the bosses. Little do they know that a time should come for them to form their own business and in turn use experience acquired whilst working for other people to run their own enterprises.
We have seen women who have gone all the way to sleep with their bosses just to earn a particular position at work. Such rise is founded upon treachery and unethical practices, thus one should never expect this ascension to greatness to be a permanent one.
Though looking great, it still remains a fake representation of greatness and you will feel too small from within yourself.
Results will be evident on the way one relates to colleagues.
These kind of people often act weirdly and are threatened by anyone who exhibits integrity and honesty.
But in such a scenario, it is both the boss and the employee that would have exhibited a gross lack of integrity and their business environment will systematically fight them eventually.
As an employer, there is a level of integrity expected of you. The Bible talks of paying your workers in time. Deuteronomy 24:14-15 says, “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns.
“You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the Lord and it becomes sin in you.”
Many employers, especially in our country, are struggling to meet basic obligations to their employees.
They fail to pay salaries for months and when they do pay, they do not pay them on time. It is not proper to invest millions of dollars into growing a business when the few workers that have committed their lives to work for you are not growing. Employers should realise there is more value in investing in human resources before equities.
A happy employee performs well and in turn the company benefits.
But imagine the image a disgruntled employee portrays to your clients?
No matter how educated, how rich, how talented or how charming you believe you are, ultimately how you treat employees will determine how far your business will grow.
As a religious leader or pastor, there is a level of integrity that should be seen in you.
Society will use your level of integrity to define your ministry and personality. There are a lot of things that men of cloth are doing these days, which are spiritual but also foolish. How can a man of God minister to a woman by rubbing her chest? Even if she is to recover as a result of that prayer, there will be more questions than answers afterwards.
Lack of integrity by any man of cloth will cause their work for God to be marred with all sorts of dirt and accusations. Integrity and wisdom are requirements before any attempt to serve God’s people.
Recently, my very own good example of integrity – Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa, taught that whenever a female person is being ministered to by any man of God, there should be people present. lt should never be in a private setting.
“When your wife is being prayed for by any man of God, you as the husband must be present. She should never be prayed for in your absence,” said Prophet Makandiwa.
Prophet Makandiwa always performs his miracles in public, with thousands in attendance.
This kind of integrity should be emulated.
Other men of God should copy his mode of operation, which is righteous, honourable, blameless, truthful, disciplined and a blessing to God’s people.
In our politics today, we have politicians who are far from being leaders.
It is integrity that separates leaders from politicians.
Nations are in need of leaders, not politicians. Politicians often do not honour their word; they make promises to get votes but deliver none of those promises. We also have husbands and wives who are like that as well. There is a level of integrity expected of you as a husband and the lack of it will result in distortion within the marriage.
A husband’s lack of integrity is not only conspicuous when they commit sins but also when the little things that are supposed to be communicated are left for the wife to guess.
Again, lack of integrity not only manifests when a husband cheats on his wife.
We have men who are not cheating their wives, yet they are horrible husbands who do not play their role very well.
What they promise to their wives is different from what they deliver. They are inconsistent in what they do and it’s very difficult to tell what they want, if they are happy or upset.
Some wives too, lack integrity. As a wife, you might consider yourself perfect, but after reading this article, you will realise that there is room for improvement.
Being a mom and a wife might be overwhelming and exhausting day-in-day-out.
Do not commit to a secondary role and neglect your principal role, which is being a wife to that husband of yours. Most women spend lots of energy on raising kids, yet they neglect those little boys in their husbands. Demonstrate to your husband that he is a priority in your life by setting aside time just for him. In doing that, he will admire your integrity and his level of respect towards you will increase.
Most women have neglected fitness training as part of maintaining their bodies for their husbands. You think face powder will take care of everything? Your body keep going north, west, east and south under his watch.
Your integrity as a woman should be seen in the things that you do, the things that you pledged knowingly or unknowingly to your husband when you agreed to marry him. These are the things that bring him pleasure, sooth and comfort.
Are you the kind of person he can spend time with when he is overwhelmed? When last did he get a massage from those fingers of yours?
A wife of integrity knows that her husband is in need of these three basic things – respect, loyalty and conjugal rights. Without these, it does not matter what you do for the kids, the neighbors or even for the church, he will always regret having a fool like you.
Quote of the week: A reputation built upon fake integrity will crumble down like a tower built without a foundation.
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