1 Chronicles 29:17 New International Version (NIV)
17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.
Our twentieth president of the United States was James B. Garfield. This man only served as a president for two hundred days before he was gunned down and killed. History says that in the 1880 Republican Convention was in a deadlock on who would win the ballot. Somehow Garfield’s name got placed on the Republican Ballot, and he wins.
This man was the only ordained minister to be elected president. He was a man who had chosen to live a life in godly virtues. He made this statement, and I think all of us can resinate with what he says, “I mean to make myself a man, and if I succeed in that, I shall succeed in everything else.”
Men, succeeding is choosing to live a life of godly virtues, to delight in living in uprightness, and to be a man of integrity. I believe James Garfield made those choices early in life. We never know when those defining moments will show up in life.
I am realizing that more and more as the older I get, that you can work on living a life of integrity to only lose it in a moment of a bad decision. I want to choose to “Make myself a man” who walks in the uprightness of the Lord. When I do that, I will always have integrity in my heart.
Strength and Courage
Michael
