Day 234
Job 4:1-7:21; 1 Corinthians 14:18-40; Psalm 37:30-40; Proverbs 21:27
Integrity vs. Ruthlessness
Throughout my career as a business manager and owner, there was always the temptation to act without regard to what was morally correct. Today’s psalm echoes a theme found in Psalm 73, which I kept marked and readily available to read in my desk drawer at work. The ruthless and wicked seem to have a large measure of success. Their employees fear them; they use every trick in the book to lie and deceive and succeed. The psalmist writes in Psalm 73:
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
It seemed to me a wearisome task.
Then I discerned their end…
18 Truly you set them in slippery places,
You make them fall to ruin.
In Psalm 37 from today’s reading:
35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
Spreading himself like a green laurel tree,
36 But he passed away, and behold he was no more.
The mission statement of my business was carefully worded with the final phrase being, “…and let integrity be the keynote to our success.” We were bound by that phrase against doing things that matched the ruthlessness of our competitors, but we slept well, and we succeeded anyway.
In each of our offices throughout Florida, there was a plaque on the front reception desk with Philippians 4:8 displayed. “Whatever is true, honorable, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise” were the words we would use to guide our actions. Certainly we had to work hard and compete to win, but we were part of a team that acted within an appropriate framework nearly all the time.
Lord, help us to always trump ruthlessness and deceit with integrity and application of Your Word in all that we do.
Joe Pollock