Living Life by Design

The word integrity comes from the Latin integer meaning ‘whole’. It describes an undivided life, a ‘wholeness’ that comes from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. It means acting according to the values, beliefs and principles we claim to hold.

Former President Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Western Europe during World War II said, ‘The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is… on a football field, in an army, or in an office.’

Great leadership is indeed very rare because unfortunately, integrity is rare. We can look around the world today and see there are very few countries that are led well.

In Psalms 78, the psalmist looks back at the history of Gods people, and unfortunately wasn’t able to find much good leadership there either. What he did find was rebellion against God: ‘traitors – crooked as a corkscrew’ (v.57).

God needed a leader after his own heart. Eventually he found David, a rare example in the Old Testament of great (though not perfect) leadership: ‘He chose David his servant… to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them’ (vv.70–72).

God ‘took him (David) from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep’ (v.70). David was arguably the greatest leader Gods people ever had. David was an example of what Pope Francis urged the spiritual leaders of the church to be, “…shepherds living with the smell of sheep”.

God can take you too from where you are and use you in an incredible way, as long as you don’t mind smelling like sheep.