Truth & Moral Integrity:

In fact, this is love for God: to keep His commands. And His commands are not burdensome -1 John 5:3

In 1980, my wife Ruth and I were invited to speak at the annual conference of one of The Netherland’s largest charities. One afternoon our host, Jan, took me to a dairy farm to get milk. The clean and orderly farm had no staff even though I saw many cows. Back in India, our much smaller dairy had two staff but it was always filthy and smelly.

Jan and I walked into the milk room. No one was selling the milk. I expected him to ring a bell, but instead he just opened the tap and filled his jug. Then he reached up the windowsill, took down a bowl full of cash, put twenty Guilders in it, took some change, put the bowl back, picked up his jug and started walking. I was stunned.

“Man,” I said to him, “if you were an Indian, you would take the milk and the money.” Jan laughed. In that moment of laughter, I understood something. If I walk away with the milk and the money, the dairy owner would have to hire a salesgirl. Who would pay for her? Me, the consumer!

If the consumers are dishonest, why should the supplier be honest? He would add water to the milk to increase the volume. Then the government would need to appoint milk inspectors to check for adulteration. Who would pay for the inspectors? Me, the taxpayer! If the consumer and the suppliers are dishonest, why would the inspector be honest? He would extract bribes from the suppliers. Who would pay for the bribes? Initially the supplier, but eventually the consumer.

By the time I had paid for the milk, the water, the salesgirl, the inspector, and the bribe, I wouldn’t have surplus money to take my children for an ice cream treat on Saturday night. The high price of sin makes it difficult for me to patronise a genuine economic activity that adds value to the milk.

Moral integrity had enabled the Netherlands to succeed economically. Character was the precondition of its shalom — peace with prosperity. The nation had cultivated that character by teaching God’s Ten Commandments to every student. God’s 8th Commandment is “Thou shall not steal.” Disobeying God’s law is sin. Coveting and stealing have serious consequences for me, my family, and the entire nation.

Challenge Question:

How would you assess your moral integrity? In which aspect of life do you believe there's room for improvement in maintaining integrity?

Related Scriptures:

● “You shall not steal…... You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.” (Exodus 20: 15,17)

● “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” (Proverbs 11:3)

● “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19: 8,9)