A Sublime Divide

We live in a world that literally worships wealth and prosperity. Though there is nothing wrong with wealth and being wealthy but to make its pursuit the utmost pursuit of our lives is destructive. Why is it so? This is because pursuing wealth for wealth’s sake makes people put a divide between integrity and prosperity. Such divide has wrecked so many and will still destroy many more. This is because we hardly learn from history. We obviously might have seen people who were destroyed for the evil ways they tried to get rich with but we fail to learn. Some think the end justifies the means but the contrary is true-it is the means that justifies the end.

Integrity according to Microsoft Encarta is defined as the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards. There will always be the temptation to change and use undercut methods to make money or achieve success in any endeavour and not be caught. We might have seen people who have successfully covered their tracks after illegal transactions but such methods and successes will invariably lead to the destruction of the possessor, if not now definitely later. Nothing is durable if it was not built of sound and durable moral principles. No one is truly successful who has not succeeded based on application of principles and standards. There is no shortcut to durable success. Shortcut will cut your life short.

Integrity is also defined as the state of being complete or undivided. It was Thomas Paine who said “ It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe.” Integrity is derived from the word integer which means whole without fraction. What a life it is to not have fractions! It makes for trustworthiness. People of integrity can be trusted. This is because they don’t say one thing and do another. Who they are in secret and who they are in public match.

When we merge integrity with prosperity, we achieve lasting result. That is the original way stipulated by God. He says that wealth gotten by fraudulent means shall diminish. He also says that such wealth will destroy the possessors. It is God’s will to make everyone prosperous but that will only happen when we walk in the principles of integrity and truth. Choose integrity and you will be glad you did.