The integrity of your words matters more than the color of your hat

In the old Westerns the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats. Most had simple stories. Looking back at their simple dialogue and cheesy acting, one wonders how television and the silver screen ever survived to the sophisticated state it has today.

The guy in the white hat would win, the guy in the black would go to jail and the child who idolized it all would watch the good guy ride off into the sunset, always trusting that he would have the highest integrity, always do the right thing and never retract his word.

The Western may be somewhat out of fashion, but integrity, the ability to keep one's word, never goes out of style. Integrity takes a lifetime to build and only seconds to destroy. A survey conducted from May through June of this past year by Careerbuilder.com revealed that 49 percent of hiring managers reported catching a candidate lying on their resume. Some of the most popular tales spun included being a part of the Kennedy family, a member of Mensa, a professional baseball player and, my favorite, mentioning schools that do not exist.

What we say about ourselves is extremely important. According to Proverbs 19:1 our integrity is a source of great wealth. It reads, "Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and a fool."

Words matter. They can never be taken back. Certainly they can be apologized for, placed in context and have their intention clarified, but they can never be taken back. Once they are unleashed, their positive and negative consequences follow.

Personal compromise is never worth the cost. One who is dishonest is a fool because nobody trusts them. They have no one to turn to. They are alone. Their lack of integrity may have manipulated others to their own financial gain, but the dishonest are truly poor.

The black and white of the bygone era seems to have given way to the gray that was always there. Heroes of our modern tales do not hide but rather flaunt their flaws, and we love them for it. Yet even a flawed hero can never remain a hero if his words carry no value. Make a personal commitment to raise your level of integrity to the highest bar.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father and serves as the associate pastor at the First Baptist Church in Jackson. Read more from him at www.robhurtgen.wordpress.com.