Integrity: A Dog's Perspective

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

I’ve learned something about humans.

You all have a lot of different versions of yourselves.

There’s the Sunday morning version.
The work version.
The Facebook version.
The stuck-in-traffic version.

And then there’s the version nobody sees.

Well… almost nobody.

I see quite a bit.

I’m the dog.

I know what happens after the front door closes.

I know whether that cheerful “Good morning!” you gave everybody at church survives the ride home.

I know whether you actually read that Bible sitting beside your coffee cup or just move it out of the way so you can set down your phone.

And I know exactly what you say when you stub your toe.

Don’t worry… Dog-human confidentiality.

The other morning, my human was sitting quietly with his Bible when I heard him ask himself a question:

“Does my private life match my public profession?”

I raised my head.

That sounded serious.

Then he said it another way:

“Is the person everybody sees and the person only God sees becoming the same person?”

Now that one stuck with me.

Because I don’t really have a public and private life.

What you see is pretty much what you get.

If I like you, my tail wags.
If I’m hungry, I stare at the food bowl.
If I don’t trust you, you’ll know.

Dogs aren’t terribly good at pretending.

Humans, though?

You all can smile while you’re angry.

Say “I’ll pray for you” and never pray.

Sing about surrender on Sunday and spend Monday trying to control everything.

Talk about grace while holding a grudge.

That’s where integrity comes in.

Integrity isn’t perfection.

It’s alignment.

It’s allowing Jesus to work on the hidden places until what we believe, what we say, and how we live start pointing in the same direction.

It’s being the same follower of Jesus when nobody is watching as we are when everybody is watching.

Because somebody is watching.

God sees the conversations nobody hears.
The thoughts nobody knows.
The choices nobody applauds.
The battles nobody realizes we’re fighting.

And He isn’t looking for a polished public image.

He wants our whole heart.

My human scratched behind my ears and said, “Buddy, integrity is who you are when nobody’s looking.”

I thought about that.

Then I quietly walked into the kitchen and stole a biscuit off the counter.

Apparently, I still have some growing to do too.

Maybe we all do.

So today, perhaps the question isn’t whether people think we’re faithful.

The better question is:

Does my private life match my public profession?

Is the person everybody sees and the person only God sees becoming the same person?

Because the closer we walk with Jesus, the smaller that gap ought to become.

One day.
One choice.
One surrendered corner of our heart at a time.

Live what you believe… even when nobody but God is watching.

Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem