Proverbs 20:10
Switching price tags and padding the expense account are two things GOD hates.
The shopper says, "That's junk—I'll take it off your hands," then goes off boasting of the bargain.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
If you know much about me, you know that I have grown to love estate auctions/sales and garage sales. I “learned the ropes” from my mother-in-law… and also from a lot of practice! And I have gotten some really great things – often at a really great price! Yes, I guess I’m boasting of the bargain – but not in the way referred to in this scripture!
I’ve also learned a lot about being fair and honest. I’ve seen people strategically relocate items at auctions so that they will be sold cheaply in a box of “junk.” I’ve picked up an item that I knew was valuable and told the seller, “You’ve priced this too cheaply.” Don’t get me wrong… I love to get home with a box of goodies from an auction and find something really cool and valuable stuck inside that I purchased for a few pennies if those in charge knowingly grouped it as such. I will gladly pay a low price for an item at a sale if the seller says, “Yes, that really is the price I’m asking.”
But I will not intentionally deceive a seller. For starters, it’s dishonest… and secondly, it always comes back to bite you! I’ve learned that God rewards honesty… and more than once I have been blessed to purchase a good item for very little money and sell it for a huge return. As long as the seller is happy, I’m happy… and it has paid off for me over and again.
So how does this apply to all of us – even if we never attend a sale or auction? Every single day, there are opportunities for us to do the right thing. We can be honest with others about everything from “You gave me a $10 bill in change instead of one dollar” to claiming we didn’t foul the player, when we know full well we caught him/her with our hand… to giving your friend or an acquaintance a lame excuse instead of telling him/her you aren’t available or don’t want to do something. Fudging on your income tax returns, overbilling someone and hoping they don’t notice, and keeping quiet about the extra hamburger the server slipped into your sack by mistake at the drive-thru are all modern-day examples of padding the expense account/changing the price tags/boasting of a bargain. And God is not amused.
Stop and think about what you are doing each day. Are you honest in even the smallest of things? It may seem like such a silly, insignificant thing to switch a price tag or tuck a coveted item into a box at an auction. You may not feel it is worth your time to stop and tell the server that there’s an extra burger or taco in your sack. You may feel it is your lucky day when you are given a $10 bill by mistake for one dollar. But how you handle these situations directly correlates to how you handle bigger ones… how you live for Jesus in general.
What is your “bargain” of the day… are you boasting when you shouldn’t be? Isn’t it time to come clean and live in a way that pleases God… and leave the bargain and blessings dispensations to His discretion?
©2011 Debbie Robus
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