Reference

The Psalm 25 Integrity Map

Chapter 3 is built almost entirely on Psalm 25. Here is the whole chapter compressed into one psalm's path.

The integrity journey is not a single decision but a sequence. Psalm 25 walks you through it - and ends, crucially, not on your performance but on God's grace.

The path

1. Reflect - integrity mirrors God's nature so that watching people are instructed.
"Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way." (v. 8)
Your honest work adorns - makes beautiful - the God you serve.

2. Wrestle - when the choice is gray, God leads and teaches through a process.
"Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way." (vv. 8-9)
Search the word, seek counsel, pray for the Spirit.

3. Know - you know God better by walking in his ways.
"Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me." (vv. 4-5)
Integrity makes God more real in your own heart, not only to others.

4. Refuge - when the choice is clear and costly, take shelter and leave results to him.
"Guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you." (v. 20)
A refuge means bombs are coming. Rest anyway.

5. Wait - God unfolds his plan in his time, not yours.
"May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you." (v. 21)
Sometimes the reward comes late. Sometimes it looks like suffering.

6. Grace - the whole path rests on pardon, not performance.
"Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions… for your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great." (vv. 7, 11)
Integrity responds to grace; it never creates it.

The one sentence Reflect God's nature, wrestle when it is gray, take refuge when it is clear, wait for his timing, and rest every step on grace - because the pressure to compromise lives in your heart too.

Stories that hold the map together

Kenneth Bae - integrity in a labor camp; "God, use me" over "God, save me."
The investment counselor (via Keller) - refused profit rather than block his team: a gray-area stand.
The syringe inspector - refused to sign, was fired, was later hired for her integrity: the wait.
Volkswagen - systemic compromise: the cost-shaped pressure integrity must resist.

Companion to Lesson 3. Primary source: Bryan Chapell, Grace at Work, ch. 3.