When Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of unified China ordered the Great Wall to be built, his main aim was to fortify his empire against invasions.

“The Chinese people spent many, many years and thousands of lives to build the Great Wall of China.

“They built the wall so high that no enemy could climb over it, so thick that nothing could bash it down, and so long you cannot even go around it. And after they finished building the Great Wall of China, the Chinese people settled into a sense of deep security,” said Ps Benny Ho.

But the wall did not quite do its job. In the first 100 years after its completion, China was invaded three times. Each time, the enemy merely had to bribe the gatekeepers to gain access into the country.

“The point is this: They were so busy building those walls of tone that they forgot to teach their children integrity.

“Without integrity, no city is safe. Nothing is safe.”

Ps Benny, LoveSingapore Marketplace Lead, was speaking at N5 Conference 2024, which took place October 3 and 4. Centred on the theme “Clean Hands Pure Hearts”, Asia’s only kingdom-focussed conference for financial planners was attended by more than 200 delegates from over 15 companies, and 15 speakers and panellists.

Here are highlights of Ps Benny’s sharing on “The Forgotten Virtue of Integrity”.

What is integrity?

Quoting from 1 Chronicles 29:17, Ps Benny began by defining integrity. The Hebrew word for “integrity”, he said, is yasar which actually means “uprightness”.

“When God tests our heart, what is He looking for is one word – integrity.

“Integrity is not just an outward action. It is actually an inner attitude. Integrity is not just about what we do, but it’s about who we are.”

So what does integrity look like for financial planners?

Said Ps Benny: “A man of integrity is someone who has established a system of values. In our case, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, we have a system of biblical values that governs us consistently.

“And the end result is that our behaviour is then consistent with our belief. My walk and my thoughts match up. I’m the same person whether in private or in public. I keep my promises, I honour my words.

“Integrity is what we do when no one is watching.”

Of integrity Ps Benny said: “It is when I practice what I preach, I live out what I proclaim. I’m the same person, whether in private or in public. “

Ps Benny told an anecdote about missionary Hudson Taylor to underscore this.

When Hudson Taylor first started his ministry in China, the authorities tried to discredit him. They employed someone to shadow him in an attempt to unearth his flaws. After three months, the person who followed Hudson Taylor around became a Christian.

“He couldn’t find anything negative about Hudson Taylor. I think that is what it means to walk worthy of the calling that we have.”

6 lessons on integrity from Daniel

Ps Benny picked the Book of Daniel from which to share because Daniel is a “powerful model of integrity”.

Daniel was born into a royal family in the kingdom of Judah. But he never enjoyed the good life as a young man because the Babylonians led by King Nebuchadnezzar came, defeated Judah and carried Daniel away to Babylon.

“Daniel was taken from a religious Jewish background and planted forcefully into a pagan society. He became a God-fearing minority amongst an ungodly majority.”

He became a high government official to not one but four pagan kings in “the Wall Street of the ancient world”. Yet he remained incorruptible.

1. Put integrity above image

When the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to select worthy Israelites from the royal family and nobility to serve him (Daniel 1:3-4), the criteria he gave was “young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace”.

“They listed the priorities the world would use to actually fill key positions in organisations and governments.

“If you look at it, it actually emphasises image over substance. Not much is said about character. Not much is said about virtue or morals. But God is looking for character.”

In fact, image was so important that the king let his desire to maintain his image dictate his decision. Even though he did not want to put Daniel into the lion’s den, he did it because he felt he had to. He had signed the edict declaring that that would be fate of anyone who worshiped anything but him in the next 30 days.

“Everyone was posturing to come out looking good. But Daniel was positioning himself to walk right before God,” noted Ps Benny.

“God values integrity above image. Image is what my friends think I am but integrity is who my wife knows I am. My challenge to you, my friends, let’s put integrity above image.”

2. Integrity has power to influence

When Daniel first came into the king’s service, he so distinguished himself amongst his peers with his exceptional qualities that he impressed the king.

Later, when he refused to bow to anyone else but God, even though his life was at stake, he impressed the king with his integrity.

“His integrity and unwavering trust in God turned the king’s heart towards Yahweh,” said Ps Benny.

“The last thing he said to Daniel was this, ‘May your God whom you serve continually rescue you,’ (Daniel 6:16),” Ps Benny pointed out.

“How many of you know that’s actually a prayer? God answered this pagan King’s prayer and protected Daniel.

“The king ended up saying, ‘I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom, people must fear and revere the Lord.’ (Daniel 6:26) If we walk with integrity and demonstrate that consistently, I guarantee you, it influences people. Through the testimony of one man of integrity, the entire nation was impacted.”

The way to let integrity shine through in our work and influence others is to consider our work our calling.

“Everyone of us here has a job. Out of all the people who has jobs, there are many that will turn it into a career by doing their job excellently.

“But few would actually take their career and leverage it for Kingdom advancement, which turn it into a calling. If God is in your work, then it is really a calling. The call cannot be divorced from the caller. If there is no caller, then there is no calling. So if God is not involved in your work, your work is not a calling.

Ps Benny went on to challenge the participants take their careers and leverage it for Kingdom advancement.

“Then you would actually take risks, sometimes losing a sale, but refusing to compromise, refusing to sell a product that actually is not needed when actually you could sell it.

“Because integrity can influence people positively, but don’t forget the lack of integrity can also influence people negatively.”

Ps Benny then told a true story of a young Jewish boy who grew up in Germany. The boy had great respect for his father who was a devout Jew. When the boy was a teenager, his family moved to a new town where there were fewer than 10 Jewish men and so there was no synagogue. Instead, the town’s life centred around a Lutheran church.

One day, the boy’s father came home and told his family that he was going to become a Lutheran.

“The son asked the father, ‘Why?’ And the father said, ‘Oh, it is better for my business.’

“That young boy was completely confused, and his deep disappointment actually gave way to a deep sense of resentment and bitterness.

“Later on in life, this young man formulated his own thoughts into a book which he introduced to the world, and he created a whole new world view. He was the one who described religion as the opiate of the masses.

“His name was Karl Marx and he was the founder of the communist movement. And it all started because of a father who lacks integrity, in his eyes.”

3. Integrity is an inside job

Although the Babylonians tried to influence Daniel, going so far as to change his Jewish name to a Babylonian one – Belteshazzar, which means Prince of Bel to suggest that he was a disciple of Baal – Daniel had the integrity of heart to remain the true servant of the living God.

In Daniel 6, after learning of the decree to worship the king, he went home, threw his windows open towards Jerusalem and got down on his knees to pray three times a day.

“Notice the last phrase ‘as he had done before‘ (Daniel 6:10). This is not a show of defiance. It’s not about bravado. It was an act of integrity because he has been doing this all his life.

“Integrity is an inside job. It doesn’t matter if others are doing or not doing it. It doesn’t matter if nobody is doing it. It’s simply an inside job to have a heart of integrity before God, an inner compass that is calibrated to God,” said Ps Benny.

4. Integrity takes courage

Even though Daniel knew devotion to God would lead him into the lion’s den, he refused to back down.

“You really must be prepared to pay the price for integrity,” said Ps Benny.

“God did not call us to be safe. He called us to be brave. So be brave when it comes to standing up for what you believe.”

5. Integrity brings blessings

Daniel had a stellar career in the palace, noted Ps Benny. He was favoured by the king and envied by his colleagues. Because of his spirit of excellence, the king set him over the whole kingdom. He prospered because of his integrity.

Added Ps Benny: “In 1 Kings 9:4-5, it says, ‘As for you, if you walk before me with integrity of heart and uprightness like David your father did and do all I command and observe My decrees and laws, I will establish your loyal thrones over Israel forever.’

“And Proverbs 20:7 says, ‘A righteous man walks in his integrity and his children are blessed after him.’ I want that for my children and my children’s children.”

6. Integrity glorifies God

Because of Daniel’s integrity, the whole nation heard about the name of God. God was glorified, concluded Ps Benny.

“This is my challenge to all of us as we capture this forgotten virtue of integrity. May we walk and do our work with integrity.

“God says that He is pleased with integrity.”

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