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Keeping Your Ethical Edge Sharp
The authors discuss the obstacles in our lives that often keep our lights from shining bright and they present six principles we must understand if we are to keep our ethical edges sharp and our witness distinctive. Among the topics discussed: moral leadership, integrity, honesty, sexual fidelity, trustworthiness, and responding to failure. This is a great book for personal study and I have also used it with good success in Men's groups.
239 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 12, 2018
This book has some good material but it was pretty dry.
There were a few chapters that I thought were particularly helpful like the chapter on resolving different types of conflict, the chapter describing the the importance of the workplace for Gospel opportunities and the chapters covering being aware of your vulnerability to fall into moral failure and what to do when you've done so.
The author writes that "Integrity involves two issues: a study of what is the right thing to do, and consideration of what price you are willing to pay to do the right thing." He cautions against making career/status/money an idol, partly defined by "the last in a series of priorities to be abandoned" and instead asks the reader to ask themselves, "for what price would you compromise your integrity?"
Much of the book speaks to integrity in the workplace and the author writes that as Christians, we are co-workers with God and that we must do the work God's way. Doing so will help us to influence others for Christ and prevent us from perpetuating the skepticism unbelievers have regarding believers who live like the world. He argues that moral leadership is severely lacking in our world and that having integrity will help us to stand out and provide opportunities to have conversations about our faith. He writes, "For many of your co-workers, you will be the only commercial of what Jesus Christ is all about. They will not care where you go to church or what your beliefs are. But they will watch the way you handle the bumps and bruises of life to see if your life shows any signs of having answers. How you relate to them will be a major factor in their impression of you and of Christ."
He covers a variety of topics like honesty, sexual integrity and trustworthiness and gives practical advice for navigating situations that easily tempt us. He recommends asking ourselves in-depth questions about a situation before we commit to it so that we can be reliable and not fall through on our commitments, and counsels that we can commit to excellence of effort, if not excellence of results (which we can't always control). He reasons that we need to always try to be the best we can be at work because people will give you a platform to speak about other areas if they believe your are competent at your job, whereas few people will want to know what you think about anything if you perform poorly or show a bad attitude.
The author sets a very high standard and challenges the reader to evaluate every area of his life to watch for temptations, live with integrity and make restitution for failures. I appreciated the topics covered and the reminder that integrity matters - from the big decisions to the smallest decisions that no one will know about.
Written in 1990, the cultural references and statistics are outdated, but the material is still relevant. I did think it was a bit basic, simplistic (although often doing the right thing is simple, if not easy) and lacking in heart. It didn't necessarily come across as legalistic to me, but it didn't deal with matters of the heart as much as I would have liked, nor did it point the reader to Christ and the Gospel as our ultimate motivation for living holy lives. There is a chapter at the end that talks about the eternal consequences of our actions and there are lots of verses throughout from across the Bible to support the effort to live with integrity but it wasn't grounded in Christ (although Christ's work on our behalf is mentioned). It had lots of good, biblical advice, but it ultimately fell flat for me.
There are study/discussion questions in the back for going more in depth and involving others. He advices people to enlist their peers and Christian co-workers for accountability and support but I wished he had talked about the church as a means of support and growth. I could be wrong, but I don't think he ever encourages the reader to be connected to a local body.
I like that this book covered a lot of areas in which you could consider integrity (what it is, how it acts, etc.) and it did challenge me. You will definitely get lots of good advice and be reminded of what is at stake as the world watches how Christians live, but, even though it was humbling and convicting, it wasn't very spiritually deep and I think it fell short of moving people toward our source and motivation of being able to do any right thing: Christ.
There were a few chapters that I thought were particularly helpful like the chapter on resolving different types of conflict, the chapter describing the the importance of the workplace for Gospel opportunities and the chapters covering being aware of your vulnerability to fall into moral failure and what to do when you've done so.
The author writes that "Integrity involves two issues: a study of what is the right thing to do, and consideration of what price you are willing to pay to do the right thing." He cautions against making career/status/money an idol, partly defined by "the last in a series of priorities to be abandoned" and instead asks the reader to ask themselves, "for what price would you compromise your integrity?"
Much of the book speaks to integrity in the workplace and the author writes that as Christians, we are co-workers with God and that we must do the work God's way. Doing so will help us to influence others for Christ and prevent us from perpetuating the skepticism unbelievers have regarding believers who live like the world. He argues that moral leadership is severely lacking in our world and that having integrity will help us to stand out and provide opportunities to have conversations about our faith. He writes, "For many of your co-workers, you will be the only commercial of what Jesus Christ is all about. They will not care where you go to church or what your beliefs are. But they will watch the way you handle the bumps and bruises of life to see if your life shows any signs of having answers. How you relate to them will be a major factor in their impression of you and of Christ."
He covers a variety of topics like honesty, sexual integrity and trustworthiness and gives practical advice for navigating situations that easily tempt us. He recommends asking ourselves in-depth questions about a situation before we commit to it so that we can be reliable and not fall through on our commitments, and counsels that we can commit to excellence of effort, if not excellence of results (which we can't always control). He reasons that we need to always try to be the best we can be at work because people will give you a platform to speak about other areas if they believe your are competent at your job, whereas few people will want to know what you think about anything if you perform poorly or show a bad attitude.
The author sets a very high standard and challenges the reader to evaluate every area of his life to watch for temptations, live with integrity and make restitution for failures. I appreciated the topics covered and the reminder that integrity matters - from the big decisions to the smallest decisions that no one will know about.
Written in 1990, the cultural references and statistics are outdated, but the material is still relevant. I did think it was a bit basic, simplistic (although often doing the right thing is simple, if not easy) and lacking in heart. It didn't necessarily come across as legalistic to me, but it didn't deal with matters of the heart as much as I would have liked, nor did it point the reader to Christ and the Gospel as our ultimate motivation for living holy lives. There is a chapter at the end that talks about the eternal consequences of our actions and there are lots of verses throughout from across the Bible to support the effort to live with integrity but it wasn't grounded in Christ (although Christ's work on our behalf is mentioned). It had lots of good, biblical advice, but it ultimately fell flat for me.
There are study/discussion questions in the back for going more in depth and involving others. He advices people to enlist their peers and Christian co-workers for accountability and support but I wished he had talked about the church as a means of support and growth. I could be wrong, but I don't think he ever encourages the reader to be connected to a local body.
I like that this book covered a lot of areas in which you could consider integrity (what it is, how it acts, etc.) and it did challenge me. You will definitely get lots of good advice and be reminded of what is at stake as the world watches how Christians live, but, even though it was humbling and convicting, it wasn't very spiritually deep and I think it fell short of moving people toward our source and motivation of being able to do any right thing: Christ.
February 2, 2022
Read this years ago and the message still resonates with me, such as the discussion about small decisions & our personal values (when using office supplies for personal use, is that stealing from the company?)
October 20, 2024
Rated: C
Sherman & Hendricks have authored a number of books together. Strong believers. Practical advice. Book would make a good bible study.
Sherman & Hendricks have authored a number of books together. Strong believers. Practical advice. Book would make a good bible study.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews