http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2020:16&version=NIV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2011:3&version=NLT
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2016:11&version=NLT
On August 11, 2011 Pat Smith took his two 11-year-old sons, Nick & Nate, to a hockey game in Faribult, Minnesota. Before the game Pat had signed his son Nick up for a chance to win $50,000 at a charity raffle. Sure enough, in between periods, Nick’s name was selected. Unfortunately Nick was playing outside the rink at the time and so Nate, Nick’s twin brother went down to the ice instead. There Nate was given a hockey stick and a puck was placed on the ice. His challenge was to shoot the puck down to the opposite goal, through a small opening, and into the net.
To understand just how difficult this was, the goal was 90' away. The opening was 3 ½” wide. The puck itself was 3" wide. This meant that there was very little room for error. The puck would have to go straight through. Now one thing you need to know about ice in a hockey rink is that it is uneven. So the odds of shooting a puck that distance, through a hole that size, accurately were very long. Not impossible but highly improbable.
Well, Nate lines the puck up, and with very little fanfare, shoots it down the ice. Closer, closer, it gets until it miraculously goes into the net! Of course the entire rink erupts into applause. Nate had won $50,000! The next day, however, Pat called the charity organizers and told them about the switch. The result was that since Nate had taken the shot, instead of his brother, Nick, the insurance company would not pay. After some deliberation the insurance company decided instead to donate $20,000 each to two youth hockey organizations. When questioned about his actions afterwards, Pat said, “You’ve got to do what’s right. You don’t want to teach kids to lie no matter how much money is involved. I just think that honesty is more important than any prize or money you could get."
Wow! You just don’t see that kind of honesty these days. Because he wanted to teach his sons the value of honesty, Pat confessed that Nate had made the shot and not Nick. And it cost him (and Nick) $50,000. The reality is that many people wouldn’t have said a word about the switch. Not a word. They would have eagerly collected the money and kept the secret to themselves. Sure, it was still an 11-year-old boy who made the shot. Sure, it was an identical twin. But it wasn’t the boy on the ticket. That ultimately made the winning shot dishonest. Which is the opposite of being honest. In the end, the decision to be honest cost $50,000. In that sense, honesty didn’t pay. But it did pay in that Pat Smith taught his sons a lesson that they would remember for the rest of their lives. And since the story was picked up by the media who knows how many other people were positively influenced by it? How much is that worth? The answer = priceless.
As Christians, we are called to be honest. To be people of the truth. To tell the truth. To live the truth. Whether it’s finding a lost wallet, being a truthful witness, or telling someone how we really feel, we are to be honest. Honesty pays. Not necessarily in dollars and cents, though sometimes it does. It pays by developing godly character in us. Through the free flow of the Holy Spirit within us. And in the promotion of godliness in our world.
Lord, I live in a world where there is much dishonesty. Sometimes others expect me to be dishonest for their benefit. Sometimes I am tempted to be dishonest for my own benefit. Help me to resist these temptations and to be honest. All the time. In everything. For my own good. For the good of others. For Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
To understand just how difficult this was, the goal was 90' away. The opening was 3 ½” wide. The puck itself was 3" wide. This meant that there was very little room for error. The puck would have to go straight through. Now one thing you need to know about ice in a hockey rink is that it is uneven. So the odds of shooting a puck that distance, through a hole that size, accurately were very long. Not impossible but highly improbable.
Well, Nate lines the puck up, and with very little fanfare, shoots it down the ice. Closer, closer, it gets until it miraculously goes into the net! Of course the entire rink erupts into applause. Nate had won $50,000! The next day, however, Pat called the charity organizers and told them about the switch. The result was that since Nate had taken the shot, instead of his brother, Nick, the insurance company would not pay. After some deliberation the insurance company decided instead to donate $20,000 each to two youth hockey organizations. When questioned about his actions afterwards, Pat said, “You’ve got to do what’s right. You don’t want to teach kids to lie no matter how much money is involved. I just think that honesty is more important than any prize or money you could get."
Wow! You just don’t see that kind of honesty these days. Because he wanted to teach his sons the value of honesty, Pat confessed that Nate had made the shot and not Nick. And it cost him (and Nick) $50,000. The reality is that many people wouldn’t have said a word about the switch. Not a word. They would have eagerly collected the money and kept the secret to themselves. Sure, it was still an 11-year-old boy who made the shot. Sure, it was an identical twin. But it wasn’t the boy on the ticket. That ultimately made the winning shot dishonest. Which is the opposite of being honest. In the end, the decision to be honest cost $50,000. In that sense, honesty didn’t pay. But it did pay in that Pat Smith taught his sons a lesson that they would remember for the rest of their lives. And since the story was picked up by the media who knows how many other people were positively influenced by it? How much is that worth? The answer = priceless.
As Christians, we are called to be honest. To be people of the truth. To tell the truth. To live the truth. Whether it’s finding a lost wallet, being a truthful witness, or telling someone how we really feel, we are to be honest. Honesty pays. Not necessarily in dollars and cents, though sometimes it does. It pays by developing godly character in us. Through the free flow of the Holy Spirit within us. And in the promotion of godliness in our world.
Lord, I live in a world where there is much dishonesty. Sometimes others expect me to be dishonest for their benefit. Sometimes I am tempted to be dishonest for my own benefit. Help me to resist these temptations and to be honest. All the time. In everything. For my own good. For the good of others. For Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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