Criminals in Katrina’s wake offer sober reminder

The TV images of looters and thugs exploiting Hurricane Katrina’s devastation shocked me at first.

It’s understandable that starving, stranded residents would take food, drinking water and clothing in order to survive.

But it’s unthinkable that others are callous enough to prey on victims of a disaster of such magnitude. Those who break into stores to rip off television sets or brutalize weaker citizens waiting for rescue have crossed a line of decency that few dare to cross.

As I have prayed for Katrina’s victims, it’s occurred to me that the criminals running amok in those floodwaters offer us a glimpse at everyone’s struggle with integrity. We are getting a look at what happens to some people when they feel no one else is looking, when normal rules are suspended, or when the consequences of wrong disappear.

Without some sense of personal integrity, man’s default setting is always sin.

The Bible says this about us: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 – KJV). That phrase “desperately wicked” literally means that the human heart is incurably sick with sin.

We are born that way. Without some external influence, each of us has the capacity to do unspeakable wrong to others.

Many years ago I attended a Promise Keepers conference in Seattle. More than 60,000 men were on hand to worship, study Scripture and focus on personal integrity.

I left the conference proudly wearing a new Promise Keepers baseball cap with the words “Men of Integrity” embroidered on the back.

Bad idea. Wearing a cap that advertised my integrity gave me the ultimate gut check.

It wasn’t long before I regretted buying the thing; I didn’t feel confident that I was a man of integrity, at least not consistently.

The person I am when no one else is looking sometimes scares me. Can you relate to that?

The ultimate test of our integrity comes when all of the external reasons for moral behavior are removed. That person we are when there is no fear of consequences is who we really are.

In Psalm 15, King David reminds us that integrity involves a lot more than good behavior around other people. It involves speaking the truth in our own hearts and doing what is right even when it hurts us.

Each of us faces a constant battle with this issue of integrity. Each day, we make choices that reveal who we really are.

Will we say behind someone’s back what we would never say to their face? Will we curse another driver, knowing he can’t hear us?

Will we allow our eyes to take in things that we would never look at if others were watching us?

David resolved to “lead a life of integrity within my own home” (Psalm 101:2 – NLT). His concern was not so much what other people saw on the outside. His turn toward integrity hinged upon what was inside: “I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil” (Psalm 101:4).

There is a caveat to such noble resolve. None of us can simply will ourselves to be people of integrity.

No matter how hard we try, we cannot outrun the tendency toward sin. In fact, the most moral people you and I know are in the same war.

Remember, “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

In his letter to Christians in Rome, even the Apostle Paul confessed this struggle: “It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. … Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?” (Romans 7:21, 24).

That is the salient question of integrity. If we cannot hope for personal integrity through our own effort, where is our hope?

Once again, the words of David are instructive. He realized that, on his own, he was destined to live in sin. A radical change was needed: “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10 – NLT).

To live with integrity, we need spiritual heart surgery. We need to exchange our old, sinful heart with God’s own heart.

We do that by trusting in him and allowing him to transform us, not by relying on our own strength: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26).

It is shocking to see corruption in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. At first it seems that tougher punishment and more police might be in order.

But those are only temporary solutions. What the culprits really need is what all of us need – changed hearts.

Only when our hearts are turned toward God can we hope for integrity.