A man went into
local Big and Tall Man's store several times looking for a job. Finally, on his seventh visit, store's owner told him, "I will tell you what. I have this suit here on shelf that has been here for years. I cannot find anyone to buy it. I have some errands to run, so if you will watch store while I am out, you will get your chance. If you can sell this suit while I am gone, you will have yourself a job."A few hours later, store's owner returns to find man grinning from ear to ear, his clothes in shreds.
The owner was horrified, "What in world happened to you?"
The man responded, "I sold suit!"
The owner queried further, "Okay, you sold suit, but what happened to your clothes?!?"
"Well," he said nodding, "The guy loved suit, but his seeing eye dog was really mad."
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How many half-truths or white lies would you have told to get sale and job? I hope your answer is "None." But, truth is, not everyone is that honest.
Did wannabe sales person tell blind man that suit was ugly? Not very likely. But hey, customer was blind and did not know it was an ugly suit. And his friends probably won't say anything to him about suit since they know he is blind. Further, blind man did love his new suit! So, what could be wrong with this?
All too often in business world, honesty is not black and white, but various shades of gray. People who consider themselves Christians think little or nothing of exaggerating features or benefits of a product or service they are selling. They believe "white lies" are ok. They reason with themselves that "Everyone else is doing it."
But of course as Christians, we have an extra obligation to be honest in all our dealings with others, regardless of whether they will ever know or not. We are called to live to a higher standard.
Colossians 3:22 says:
"Obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for Lord."
If you find it difficult to avoid exaggerating and telling little "white lies" in course of your daily living, you will be challenged even further when your family's well-being and lifestyle are on line. The responsibility of taking care of your family could very well push you to make decisions in your work you would probably never make outside of your job environment.
In our story above, our salesman isn't even trying to justify his actions based on truth and honesty. He did not feel a need to.
He told truth when he pointed out how well suit fit man. This truth would have been something blind customer could have attested to by feel of fit. So you could say our salesman was honest in this regard.
