Integrity

“Finally these men said, ‘We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.’” Daniel 6:5
In Daniel 6 we have the account of Daniel being thrown to – and delivered from – the lions. By this stage in his life he was an old man – he was already retired when Darius overthrew the kingdom in ch. 5 (see Dan. 5:11-16). Under Darius he became one of three administrators over the government officials, even though it was a position he had not sought (Dan. 5:16-17). Darius was thinking of making Daniel the head over all his officials (Dan. 6:3). This naturally aroused the jealousy of the others, and they sought to find a way to discredit him. But we read, “They could find no corruption in him, because he was so trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (Dan. 6:4).
As Christians, we will come under extra scrutiny from unbelievers. Any sin we fall into, they will be quick to point out. And if (or when) they make up their minds that they don’t like us, they will go looking for dirt in our lives in order to discredit us. That’s why it’s important, even if we’re not in a leadership position (but especially if we are), to make sure we are people of integrity. That means, we are trustworthy and transparent, having no hidden agendas, not doing dodgy deals behind the scenes, keeping our promises. Daniel is a great example to us, of a man who was faithful to God even when he was taken from his home and placed in an environment of godlessness and fierce competition. God will reward us if we are faithful to Him in what we are given to do.