Honesty in Today's World... What has Changed?

          The first word that pops into anyone's mind when you mention Abraham Lincoln is probably "Honest". I mean, no one has gone down in history like he has for being honest! For the slavery movement you have William Wilberforce, for the Civil War you have General Grant, Lee, etc... but for honesty, Abe takes the cake. Well, and maybe George Washington with his hatchet mess-up concerning his daddy's cherry tree. Wish I could vote for one of them in 2012... But back to my point. 

          Here's a question to ask yourself...Do you admire greatness or aspire to greatness?

         When we hear the story of Abraham Lincoln's two-mile walk to return 2 pennies to the guy who overpaid him, the general reaction is "Wow, what a guy". But I think that secretly, in the back of many minds, there's a mixed reaction. And I think that that mixed reaction has grown rapidly over the years. No longer is there pure admiration for feats of honesty like his. Instead, we have grown dull to such displays of character, and even find them irritating at times.

         I speak from personal experience on this... just last night I had an honesty dilemma that my Maker wouldn't let me wriggle out of. Please don't think of me as tremendously honest after this story... for the truth is that He had to twist my arm too much to claim that quality. After all, a coupon that the car hop didn't take isn't seriously a big deal, is it? I mean, seriously! But as I started to back out of the parking space and go on my way, (yes, I was secretly doing a happy dance in my mind over the fact that I was going to get another ninety-nine cent Route44) God tapped me on the shoulder and said, "That wasn't an accident". Of course, I got defensive. Really, I had just set it down to count my change out to her! Never once crossed my mind that she couldn't see the coupon, and, of course, wouldn't remember it! 

          "Liar." 

          I pulled out onto the street anyway and tried to laugh it all off. I couldn't count the number of times I had reused 'forgotten' coupons. It really was NOT a big deal. If I actually went back and gave it to them, they would no doubt laugh at me for being so ridiculous. I made it onto the interstate, all the while humming to try to block Him out. But all I could think of was that turning back was going to get harder with every block I drove, every mph I accelerated. And I had just asked God to speak into my life more, to use me more, to renew my faith and vigor in this walk... if I ignored Him now, would all of that be killed?

         Finally, with an exasperated sigh, I yanked onto an off ramp, drove the 2 miles back to Sonic, told 'James' that I owed him more than I gave him, and handed over the coupon. Of course, just as I expected, the reaction was somewhere between, "Oh honey, you're so exasperatinly sweet," and "Geez, woman, get a life". And I have no doubt that someone, somewhere, reading this, probably had similar thoughts, if but for a moment. 

          Why is it that we can applaud Abraham Lincoln for walking two miles to return two cents, but roll our eyes at Jessica driving two miles to return a dollar? Is it because his task was so much more difficult? But that doesn't make sense, because the fact that my task was simple means that there should be thousands of people doing it, right? It should be common place...

          We still applaud the woman who turns in the bag of dough to the police when she could have kept it, or the guy who runs after the lady who dropped her expensive purse. But when it comes to the little things, we have lost something terribly valuable. In fact, we have traded it for something much less worthy. God's standards and applause should never have been exchanged for man's value and approval. Yet, as I drove home last night, I realized that that was exactly what I had done in my own mind. Man would never have expected me to go back to make sure my coupon was in the proper hands. Man would snicker behind closed hands if I they saw me doing it. But God... God did expect me to go back and make sure my coupon was in the proper hands. And God...God would applaud me openly if He saw me doing it.

          Instead of simply cheering Honest Abe we should aspire to be an Honest Abe in our own right. Instead of simply giving kudos to the woman who turned in the cash we should eagerly look for our chance to be more like her. Instead of simply nodding and smiling our approval at the man who chases down the careless purse loser we should be as quick in our decisions over what to do when we see it happen.

          Whenever you hear stories of people doing tremendously honest things, like returning small amounts of money or including little truths in their accounts even when it might hurt them... watch your reaction. It could tell you a lot about the state of your heart, and whose opinion you value most.