Published 9/19/19
By Greg Johnson
What If...
You’re industrious like your older brother, always looking for ways to make money. You do your chores to get your allowance, and you’re always asking Mom and Dad what you can do to earn some extra cash.
One day, your brother tells you he’s going to give up mowing lawns to start a paper route. He wants to know if you’d like to take over a few of his regular customers.
“Would I?” you say. “That would be great!”
The following Saturday, your brother takes you around to several homes to introduce you. He says a lot of nice things about you to the owners (stuff he’s never said to you before) and encourages them to try you out. They all agree.
Next, your brother tells you when and how to do each customer’s lawn and, most importantly, lets you know how much you should expect from each one. You take notes and write down every detail.
The big day finally arrives. You have four houses to do and you’ll be making thirty-five dollars! It takes you almost five hours to mow all four lawns (pushing your mower and carrying your gas can between each house), but it feels good to have it done. All the customers give you cash, and you note exactly how much they paid.
When you get back home, though, you see that you’ve got only thirty dollars instead of thirty-five. Checking your notes, you see that the elderly lady on the corner gave you five dollars less than she used to give your brother.
What gives? You think. I did just as good a job as my brother did.
You check with your brother, but he doesn’t have an explanation for you.
Questions to Think On
• What are some possible reasons why she would have paid you less?
• If you found out she deliberately paid you less, how would you feel?
• When you are treated unfairly, what is your first response?
• Mom and Dad: Talk about some of the things that are unfair in this world, and how you respond when they happen to you
What Does God Have to Say?
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Philippians 4:5
I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:20-21
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