WALKING IN UPRIGHTNESS

Now if you WALK before Me as your father David WALKED, in INTEGRITY of heart and in UPRIGHTNESS, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever…– 1 Kings 9:4-5a

To walk in Uprightness means: to walk in faithfulness, forthrightness, honesty, integrity, transparency, trustworthiness, and truthfulness. Job's integrity in the face of calamities bring to the fore the fear of God that shuns evil. Hear the Divine Testimonial: “Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and UPRIGHT man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his INTEGRITY, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause”” (Job 2:3). Integrity or wholeness of heart is the close counterpart to uprightness. Thinking and doing right must find resonance from the heart – the very core of one's being.

God assessed the kings of Israel and Judah according to their sincerity and uprightness in applying His law personally and socially: “And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he WALKED before You in truth, in righteousness, and in UPRIGHTNESS of heart with You…” (1Kgs.3:6a). God in turn set the standard of Integrity and Uprightness for Solomon: “Now if you WALK before Me as your father David walked, in INTEGRITY of heart and in UPRIGHTNESS…” (1Kgs.9:4). The opposite of Uprightness is Crookedness or Perversity of heart: “For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but His secret counsel is with the upright” (Pro.3:32).

Isaiah contrasted between crooked and straight to illuminate the uprightness of the LORD, His prophets, and the Messiah: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth” (Isa.40:3-4). Fundamental to God’s Kingdom are unbending moral principles and rectitude; and these are most visible in individual lives. The upright person walks a straight road, based on sound standards, and focused on applying godly principles from a loving heart to others. Uprightness closely relates to righteousness which literally means ‘to be right’ (Psa.11:7). The faith of a person who is in right relationship with God will automatically reflect the ethics of equity and integrity. Genuine faith is expressed in upright desires.

Uprightness is however not an exclusively Old Testament concept. The translation of the Hebrew terms for upright into Greek include: equity, just, meet, pleasing, and righteous. Joseph was just (Mt.1:19); Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Simeon were upright (Lk.1:6,25). Cornelius, the God-fearing centurion, and Joseph of Arimathea were upright (Lk.23:50; Acts 10:22). Overseers are to be blameless in their character – “upright, holy and disciplined” (Tit.1:8). Indeed all believers are exhorted to live “upright and godly lives in this present age” (Ti.2:12 NIV). How upright am I? How upright are you?