Proverbs 11:1-3

The Lord abhors dishonest scales,
but an accurate weight is his delight.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the crookedness of the unfaithful destroys them.

Are you surprised by people who call themselves Christians, but practice business in very shady ways during the week? I know I have. I have come across people who will go to church on Sunday and listen to the sermon, talk the talk with people after church but then wake up on Monday and begin a completely separate life.

God doesn’t want us to do business in shady ways. He wants us to be above reproach in all matters, which includes our business practices. God delights in business being handled correctly, and he despises people who use business to take advantage of others.

Basically, God wants us to be people of integrity. Someone who has integrity, is someone who lives by a code of conduct in all their life. When you have integrity, you have something that guides you in the way you live. A man of integrity is also a man of humility – that’s part of the code.

It’s kind of like a secret handshake. If you know someone is humble, you know the chances of them being trustworthy are good. If they are proud and arrogant and full of themselves, you can probably guess that they aren’t going to be trustworthy. When someone is proud and think of themselves first, well – they think of themselves first. And when it comes to business, someone who is thinking only of themselves will  only be looking at what they can get out of the deal. When you encounter someone in any facet of your life who is proud, you must watch yourself.

However, when you are humble you get wisdom. When you are proud, you get disgrace. But, when you are humble, you gain wisdom. When you are humble you are able to view the world as it is, not only as it affects you.

The thing about wisdom is it leads to integrity. In fact, you might even say they are almost the same thing. It would be hard to have one without the other. When you have wisdom and integrity you also have humility. When you have it, you know it when you see it. That’s the secret handshake.