“4And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’” – 1 Kings 9:4-5 (ESV)
Pretty powerful message from God to Solomon. It is up to Solomon to follow in the integrity of his father to be established and have his throne live forever.
But it does not stop there. The promise was also dependent on the integrity of Solomon’s lineage as well.
“6But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and they house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.” – 1 Kings 9:6-7 (ESV)
You see, we are only as those around us. We can be torn down by our lineage. It is up to us to pass down our integrity as it is a picture of who we are.
Now I know that we cannot “make” others act and live a certain way. We have a duty to start with them as early as we can to instill the integrity in them so that when they act, they act as then know and want as opposed to being drawn in by others around them. We have a task to pass down to our lineage than which is right.
Is your integrity of heart where it should be for God? What about your lineage? Have you passed your integrity to your lineage?
Trevor's Thoughts 