Having the privilege of working with Navy SEALs has taught me a lot of really important principles to live by, but none more important than the need to have integrity in all that we do.
One SEAL in particular with whom God has allowed me to develop a friendship is Captain Bradley Geary, who formerly commanded Hell Week. Captain Geary was a SEAL candidate featured in the miniseries documentary BUDS Class 234.
If you have never seen this miniseries, you certainly should. Toward the end of the series, Captain Geary was specifically recognized as a candidate for having integrity over breaking a rule about having candy in his rucksack, ultimately resulting in several hundred pushups as punishment. Nearly three decades later, Captain Geary is in the spotlight once again for having integrity: his career has suffered unjustly as a result of botched investigations into the death of a Hell Week candidate who was taking dangerous performance enhancing drugs.
This longtime and highly decorated SEAL, who is driven by his Christian faith, has determined to have his career defined by integrity. In a speech given two years ago, Captain Geary said this: “I once asked an officer to define integrity. He replied, ‘Doing the right thing when nobody is looking.’ I waited for more. That’s it?”
I had never thought about integrity in the way Captain Geary described it, but after thoroughly contemplating it, I think he is right, especially considering the cultural context in which we live.
The leftist agenda is increasingly making it more and more difficult to maintain biblical integrity in the civil realm. In many ways, it is actually much easier to privately have integrity. How many times have we seen someone do the right thing quietly and in private, but then ultimately cave to public pressure and backtrack or even change their mind or position completely?
It is the pressure of walking in integrity when everyone is looking that is becoming seemingly impossible to do, unless of course you are rooted in the Word of God.
“And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
as long as my breath is in me,
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
my lips will not speak falsehood,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
Far be it from me to say that you are right;
till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.”
— Job 27:1-6
Job, who is the perpetual example of a righteous man who suffered pain and misery, would have rather died than give up his integrity. How many men do you know who possess that level of fortitude? I can confidently say that Captain Geary embodies that mindset and has spurred me on to do the same.
Looking at the etymology of the word “integrity” in the Hebrew, we see that this term can also be defined as “completeness” or “wholeness,” and going back to the definition from Captain Geary, we see how that fits: biblical integrity is not merely private, and is not merely public, but is holistic. It should define who we are and what we do in all of life, all of the time.
“The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.”
— Psalm 7:8
Our righteous deeds are the result of the integrity that lies within us, and by this fruit, or lack thereof, we will be judged by God.
“But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.”
— Psalm 26:11-12
Walking in integrity means that we will be sure-footed and on level ground. It also means we recognize the grace of God toward us, which in turn causes us to bless his holy name. In the proverbs we see a theme of promise and protection for those who walk in integrity.
“He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity.”
— Proverbs 2:7
“For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it.”
— Proverbs 2:21
“The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.”
— Proverbs 11:3
“Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.”
— Proverbs 19:1
“Whoever walks in integrity will be delivered,
but he who is crooked in his ways will suddenly fall.”
— Proverbs 28:18
Having integrity is not just a pithy slogan. Having integrity is a biblical principle to live by, and even be defined by, and as we have seen, also comes with blessing from God.
Walking in integrity is a very important part of the SEAL ethos but ultimately finds its roots in Scripture. I want to be like Captain Geary, but more importantly, I want to be like Job, and ultimately like Jesus Christ, in whom no deceit or wickedness was ever found.
As long as I have breath in my lungs, and I have the Spirit of God in my nostrils, I will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. Until the day I die, I will not put aside my integrity, but will hold fast to my righteousness, which we as Christians find only in Christ.
Holistically walk in integrity. Let your wife see it. Let your children see it. Let the public see it. And most importantly, let your Creator who judges righteously see it.
