The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children after them.
Proverbs 20:7 NLT

A heritage of blessings

What better motivations exist for us to be people of integrity than that our children will be blessed for it! Parents who are godly, who live with integrity and truthfulness, are wonderful examples to their children. Granted, this does not always guarantee that children will turn out perfectly, but children will nevertheless receive a great blessing from having such parents.

So what does it mean to "walk with integrity"? It means that "walk the talk." In other words, plenty of people know the right thing to do, but when the right time comes, they don't do it. They know they should tell the truth, for example, but if telling the truth will hurt, they opt for a lie instead. Children learn best from models they see and hear, but if they learn to bend the truth whenever needed, they set themselves up for problems in life. But if they learn to follow God and walk their faith, then they will have been greatly blessed.

WISE WAYS Are you willing to walk with integrity in front of your children or those over whom you have influence? What kinds of blessings will they have from following your example?

Today, Lord, help me walk with integrity so as to be a good example to others.

adapted from The One Year® Book of Proverbs by Neil S. Wilson, Tyndale House Publishers (2002), entry for February 20
Happy families own a surface similarity of good cheer. For one thing, they like each other, which is quite a different thing from loving. For another, they have, almost always, one entirely personal treasurea sort of purseful of domestic humor which they have accumulated against rainy days. This humor is not necessarily witty. The jokes may be incomprehensible to outsiders, and the laughter springs from the most trivial of sources. But the jokes and the laughter belong entirely to the family.
PHYLLIS McGINLEY

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House