I want to start by telling you what happened to me today. Just recently I lost my job, and today I was out buying proper business interview clothes. While in the store, I picked up several slacks, a button-up long-sleeve shirt, tie, belt, and a couple polos.

“Great,” I exclaimed, “I now have everything I need and the confidence that I look snazzy.” So after gathering the items I was going to purchase, I proudly walked up to the checkout counter.

There was a man in font of me, so I waited in line for a minute or two. Then, what I believe to be the assistant manager jumped into the closest register and signed in. “Next please,” I heard, so I shuffled to the open register. I remember how nice she was and pleasant to talk to while she rang me up.

The total came to $110.68. I sighed briefly and was hesitant to pay that much for all the clothes. I remember saying to myself when I got there, “Under $100, Ray.” So I looked up and in a low tone said, “Can you take the button-up shirt off?”

She looked at me sympathetically and said, “Are your sure, sir?”

I half smiled, “Yes, I'm sure.”

She piped up and said the new total was $93.22. So I confidently got my debit card out and swiped it. She smiled and said, “Thank you sir,” then explained that there was a 20-percent-off questionnaire in the bag that I could use anytime.

So I walked out and got into the car. I looked down and—much to my surprise—there was the blue button-up shirt in the bag with the other items. Oh boy, I realized she had slipped the blue shirt into the bag. She had given me the shirt for free!

So while driving home, I was continuously making excuses for why I should keep the shirt. Well she did give it to me; God will understand.

Then it dawned on me: I am stealing. I may not have been the one who physically took it, and her intentions may have been good. But ultimately, I would have been held accountable for it in the end. So I reconciled with myself to do the right thing: Take the questionnaire and go back and buy the shirt with the 20-percent-off coupon.

What does this mean to us?       

Looking through my digital copy of the Bible, I find that that the word integrity is written over 24 times. What does that leave me to think? Well, in this day and age, integrity and doing what is right when no one is watching is not a huge deal. The media and the way people live their lives contradict how God our creator says and wants us to live our lives.

How do we fight back when things like this pop up in our lives? First off, we have to remember that God is good and withholds no good thing from people who love him.

Psalms 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
 
Also remember that we are a light in a dark world and our purpose cannot be darkened. In 2 Corinthians, Paul talks about how we have to demonstrate our Christ likeness so that others may not find fault in us. So no matter what our circumstances, others may come to know the Lord through our lives.

2 Corinthians 6:3-7  
We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.