Integrity is something we all need to display. We have discussed that in depth over the past few months.

But integrity can quickly be forgotten, and it can be cast aside with a careless mistake.

In order to do that, we need to be completely uncompromising in our principles.

I can remember several years ago, at our church camp, one of the other youth ministers there had several really cool resources for teaching and video, most of them backgrounds and images for projection. I can also remember that several of the other youth ministers, myself included, were pretty jealous, and we all wanted to use imagery like that in our own ministries.

Unfortunately, many of the smaller churches, like mine, didn’t have the budget to purchase such cool tools. One of the other guys there asked for a copy of these images. For ministry use, of course…

My friend, whose name is Kevin, replied with something about obeying the copyright laws. The other guy pushed the issue a little further, and I will never forget Kevin’s response: “I will not tolerate the devil a foothold in my life by breaking the law intentionally.”

That thought has stuck with me for years. How often do I compromise my values in some area, and give the devil a foothold in my life? How often to I relax my principles and allow him to sneak in and steal my passion for God?

For example, if I am committed to honesty, which I am, I cannot afford to permit my kids to lie to me. Sometimes, though, it feels like it would be easier to let it slide than to deal with it outright. But if I am to stand on my principles and be uncompromising, then I must deal with the lies.

As dads, and in order to be dads of integrity, we have to hold those principles to be uncompromising. We have to follow through, each and every time we may be tempted to lay them aside. Our integrity depends upon it. And our kids depend on it as well.

One idea for modeling this in your family life for your kids is to have a “principle of the week.” This not only will strengthen your resolve, but it will display just how critical it is for your wife and kids to see and participate as well. This week, you could start with dedicating the week to conversations about honesty. Next week, you could focus on humility, and then trust, followed by gratitude.

Each week, discuss how you are doing with that week’s principle. Give your family time to discuss it as well. By the end of the week, you will have strengthened your own resolve, and done so for your wife and kids as well.

It’s well worth the effort!

Be deliberate, Dad!

What do you do to strengthen yourself against compromise? You can leave your thoughts in the comments by clicking here.