Today, I'd like to begin with a verse that I memorized when I was in college from the Old Testament

or from the Hebrew scripture. And if you're from a different faith tradition or you're not a Christian or used to be,

or maybe you don't have faith, you're trying to figure it out, you can appreciate this.

This is kind of an old phrase, kind of an all-skate. This applies to everybody.

And I think it's a great way to start

today. Here's what the author of this text says from the book of Proverbs. The integrity of the

upright will guide them. The integrity of the upright will guide them. There was a kind of person

who is actually led by their integrity. Their integrity leads them, their integrity

directs them, their integrity informs all of their decisions in spite of the consequences.

Then the second half says this, but, because it's a counterpoint, but the crookedness of the

treacherous will destroy them.

And we've all seen this.

In fact, most of us have experienced this, that the lack of integrity by people who lack

integrity, ultimately, there's a price to pay when a person leaves integrity in order

to accomplish something they think is more important or get something they can't get

any other way. So here's the question, because this sets us up for where we're gonna go today. What ultimately guides you? You know, what's your North Star? Because everybody has a North Star, everybody has some sort of guide, and a lot of times we don't really think through what it is, or we think we know what it is.

And here's what I think we all have in common.

We all hope that our integrity guides us, right?

But here's what we're going to discover today, and here's what some of you have already discovered in life.

We don't really know if our integrity guides us until our integrity costs us. And then we know. When you suffer for doing right, then you know. The interesting thing is, too, they're going to move on.

The Hebrew term for upright, it literally means to stand up straight.

It means to stand up straight, to not be bent over.

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