TAD R. CALLISTER
of the Quorum of the Seventy
Dec. 6, 2011
BYU DEVOTIONAL
Integrity is a purity of mind and heart that knows no deception, no excuses, no rationalization, nor any coloring of the facts. It is an absolute honesty with one’s self, with God, and with our fellowman.
Even if God blinked or looked the other way for a moment, it would be choosing the right—not merely because God desires it but because our character demands it.
Each of us might appropriately ask: Does our integrity, our honor, have a purchase price—a dime, a thousand dollars, the approval of our peers, some physical pleasure, or temporary recognition? Is there some point at which our integrity can be purchased? Or is it priceless—not for sale at any price?
7 Principles of Integrity:
Integrity is the foundation upon which character and a Christlike life are built. If there are cracks in that foundation, then it will not support the weight of other Christlike attributes that must be built upon it. How can we be humble if we lack the integrity to acknowledge our own weaknesses? How can we develop charity for others if we are not totally honest in our dealings with them? How can we repent and be clean if we only partially disclose the truth to our bishop? At the root of every virtue is integrity.
Second: Integrity is not doing just that which is legal but that which is moral or Christlike. It may be legal to have premarital relationships, it may be legal to commit adultery, it may be legal to gossip, but none of those actions is moral or Christlike. Integrity is not just adherence to the legal code; it is adherence to the higher moral code. It is as Abraham Lincoln suggested—living in accord with “the better angels of our nature.”
Third: Integrity makes decisions based on eternal implications.One of the young women in our ward was taking a test at the local high school. As she looked up, she saw one of her friends cheating. Their eyes made contact. Embarrassed, the friend shrugged her shoulders and mouthed the words “I need the grade.” Somehow this young lady had lost her eternal vision—it is not grades but godhood that is our destination. What good does it do to be accepted to the most prestigious university but forfeit our exaltation in the process? Every time someone cheats, he trades his spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage. In his shortsightedness he has opted for a dollar today rather than infinite wealth in the life to come.
Fourth: Integrity is disclosing the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I believe the Lord can live with our weaknesses and mistakes, provided there is a desire and effort to repent. That is what the Atonement is all about. But I do not believe that he can easily tolerate a deceitful heart or lying tongue.
A few years ago I conducted a mission tour. Some of the missionaries were struggling with obedience. That evening the mission president and I conducted interviews with some of the missionaries. The next morning the mission president commenced our zone conference by giving a masterful talk on integrity. I felt impressed to further speak on that subject. We observed that in a few moments we would be conducting additional interviews. We requested that the missionaries not play the game in which someone only discloses the truth if he is asked the perfect, pointed question. If they were men of integrity, they might say, “President, I don’t need any questions—I’ve made some mistakes, and I want to voluntarily disclose them. I want to be 100 percent honest.”
Well, you know what happened. The Spirit was there, and four missionaries from the night before privately stepped forward and said, “We have something else to disclose.”
One of them said, “I want to be an honest man.” That day he changed his foundation of sand for a granite foundation of integrity.
Fifth: Integrity knows no alibis or excuses. There is something ennobling about the man or woman who admits his or her weaknesses or takes the blame “square-on” without excuse or alibi. On multiple occasions Joseph Smith recorded his weaknesses in the Doctrine and Covenants for all to read. What does this tell us? It tells us he was not perfect, but it also tells us he had nothing to hide—he was a man of integrity. What does this do for his credibility when he tells the story of the First Vision or the account of Moroni’s visitation? It tells us that we can trust him; that we can believe his every word because he is, indeed, a man of integrity. The Lord said to George Miller, “He may be trusted because of the integrity of his heart.”10 And so it is with Joseph Smith. And so it can be with us.
Sixth: Integrity is keeping our covenants and our commitments, even in times of inconvenience. Integrity is the courage to do right regardless of the consequences and regardless of the inconvenience. President N. Eldon Tanner told of the following experience:
A young man came to me not long ago and said, “I made an agreement with a man that requires me to make certain payments each year. I am in arrears, and I can’t make those payments, for if I do, it is going to cause me to lose my home. What shall I do?”
I looked at him and said, “Keep your agreement.”
“Even if it costs me my home?”
I said, “I am not talking about your home. I am talking about your agreement; and I think your wife would rather have a husband who would keep his word, meet his obligations, keep his pledges or his covenants, and have to rent a home than to have a home with a husband who will not keep his covenants and his pledges.”11
Seventh: Integrity is not governed by the presence of others. It is internally, not externally, driven. Elder Marion D. Hanks told of the man and his small son who stopped at an isolated cornfield on a remote country road and eyed the delicious corn beyond the fence. The father, after looking in front of him, behind him, to the left of him, and to the right of him, started to climb the fence to take some ears of corn. His son looked at him and said reproachfully, “Dad, you forgot to look up.”13
If it is wrong in the presence of others, it is just as wrong in their absence. The man of integrity who is true to self and to God will choose the right whether or not anyone is looking because he is self-driven, not externally controlled.
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