PRACTICES / INTEGRITY
TWELVE SPIRITUAL PRACTICES · 09 OF 12
09_INTEGRITY
What would it mean for your whole life to tell one story?
Integrity invites us to notice where what we believe, what we say, and how we live have drifted apart—and to discover how grace makes wholeness possible.
FOUR MOVEMENTS
INTEGRITY_01
Division and Wholeness
GENESIS 1–3 · COLOSSIANS 1:19–20 · PSALM 51
The story begins with people made in God’s image, and moves into mistrust, hiding, blame, and broken relationship. Wholeness is not the same as flawlessness; it begins when we can tell the truth about what has become divided.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”
PSALM 51:10 (NRSV)
QUESTIONS TO CARRY WITH YOU
What does wholeness look like?
Where do you see brokenness and fragmentation appearing in the Genesis story?
Where do you see this same kind of brokenness in our lives and world today?
What do we tend to do when we feel exposed, ashamed, or afraid? Hide? Blame? Control?
What’s the difference between wholeness and perfection?
“Truth in the inward being,” a “clean heart,” and a “willing spirit.” Which do you need?
INTEGRITY_02
Our Divided Selves
JAMES 1:13–14 · ROMANS 7:14–15 · MATTHEW 4:1–11
The difference between what we intend and what we actually do is not merely a problem of appearances. Temptation can reveal what we think we lack, what we fear, and where our desires have learned to seek security.
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
ROMANS 7:15 (NRSV)
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
MATTHEW 6:21 (NRSV)
QUESTIONS TO CARRY WITH YOU
What does temptation reveal?
What can temptation reveal about what we think we lack, desire, fear, or trust?
Where do you recognize what Paul says about dividedness in human life? In yourself?
How can both be true: “I am responsible for my choices” and “I need God’s help?”
How can good things—success, security, respect—become a rival master?
Given how you spend your time, money, and attention, what does it seem you treasure?
INTEGRITY_03
One Master, One Life
JOHN 3:28–30 · GALATIANS 2:19–20 · ROMANS 12:17–21 · MATTHEW 7:21
Our greatest temptation is that we follow our EGOs, not God.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
JOHN 3:30 (NRSV)
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
ROMANS 12:21 (NRSV)
Practicing Faith in Action
Faith is more than belief;
faith in God (not the world);
faith in God (not our EGOs).
QUESTIONS TO CARRY WITH YOU
What becomes the center of a life?
What does it actually mean for God rather than EGO to become the center of a life?
What needs to decrease in us so that Christ can increase? How do we make room?
Why does Jesus place so much emphasis on what we do, not merely what we say?
Where is there sometimes a gap between what we say we believe and how we live?
If someone saw Jesus only through the way you lived this week, what might they think?
INTEGRITY_04
Grace Makes Us Whole
EPHESIANS 2:8–10 · EZEKIEL 36:26–27 · 2 CORINTHIANS 3:17–18
Integrity is not a self-salvation project. Grace is God’s gift, and the Spirit forms new capacities for truthful living. Our words, commitments, relationships, and actions can increasingly tell one story—not because we have perfected ourselves, but because God is making us whole.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”
EPHESIANS 2:8–9 (NRSV)
“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
EZEKIEL 36:26 (NRSV)
QUESTIONS TO CARRY WITH YOU
What does grace make possible that effort alone cannot?
What changes when we see God is forming Integrity in us, not that we form it ourselves?
Where in your life do you most need God to give you a “new heart” right now?
What is one small step toward greater wholeness you can practice this week?
TAKE THIS INTO YOUR WEEK
Where might a little more truth make room for a little more grace?
Notice one ordinary decision—something you say, spend, promise, or do—and ask whether it expresses what you profess to love. Name one place of division honestly, without self-condemnation. Ask God for help taking a small step toward wholeness.