Eternal Deal

Deuteronomy 25:13-16 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God.

This week has been the peak of a stressful season in the business side of my life. I carry the weight of our company, the inner load is greater than anything physical that we do. To carry the responsibility of multiple families well being, the burden of providing for people outside your own, is a burden only business owners understand. The strain of it likely killed my grandfather who died at work at 52, and my grandmother told me of it’s strains. We signed a lease this week, stepped out into the unknown, and made a huge leap of faith on where I believe God is calling us. Satan knows my weaknesses and has come at me with waves of anxieties, broken sleep, and the inner weights upon my chest that the mind begins to think it is a heart attack; these strains are the inner wars that nobody sees, and I do my best to hide.

What is Moses speaking about in the passage above? He is addressing dishonest business practices, the same practices that the sin within us drives the economy today. If you have a scale that allows you to buy more for less, then a different weight that allows you to sell less for more, your profit margin is much greater. The person that is buying and selling from you is trusting you and your scales, and we can see the evil within us tugs to make bigger profits however we can. Look how the wisest man who ever lived addressed the dishonest business man in Proverbs 11:1 Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight. 2 When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom. 3 The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. 4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death. 5 The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. 6 The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the unfaithful will be caught by their lust. I deal with and make decisions every day against my competitors, many of who practices dishonest sales techniques, false promises, high pressure, lying, cheating, and selling less for more just as the Bible talks about here.

Do you see where Solomon in Proverbs tells us God is watching us? God knows all that we do, the dishonest dealings to make more money. The little lie that we hid inside, that closed that deal, that got us that bonus, and nobody knew……but God. David wrote in Psalm 139:O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. Seek to honor God in all that you do, the seen and the unseen. Seek to trust God in all that you do and know that he will sustain you, never leave you, and build in you a testimony unto himself for all to see. Put down that dishonest deal, walk away from it, and testify why you are doing so, and God may reach that person you are sharing your faith with. You may play a part in an eternal deal.