Avalanches & Being A Loser

To my readers,

I never win contests. 

When it comes to contests, I am in the most sense of the word, a loser.  To be honest, this doesn’t bother me.  I am fine knowing I’ve never won a cruise, a raffle drawing, or trivia.  However, when my favorite TV show, Psych, tweeted they were going to have a twitter trivia challenge- I was sold.  I wanted to win.

The rules were simple. Every hour from noon to five the Psych twitter (@Psych_USA) would post a trivia question.  The answer didn’t need to be correct to win, just the right format. If you followed those rules, they would randomly draw a winner before the next question.

 

During the first round, I retweeted the correct answer within 25 seconds.  I figured I had won since I was the first person to answer.  I didn’t win. This continued in the second round. Then the third question came up and I knew the answer immediately, but I had a problem. 

The answer was the name of specific episode of the show.  The problem was that the episode had a word that I don’t use. I sat for nearly ten minutes debating whether or not I would retweet the answer correctly or not.

I had a dilemma.

Jesus tells a parable in Luke’s account of the Gospel.  He tells about a shrewd manager who is dishonest and ends up being found out.  Towards the end of the story Jesus says this:

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.  But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”  Luke 16:10, NLT. 

To some this word means nothing, but to me it meant crossing a line I didn’t want to cross. I struggled with the thought of crossing this line.  I told myself, “Tex! It’s to win a contest with sweet prizes from your favorite TV show. Its okay this one time!”

The truth is I wanted to just cross this line.

But what would it cost?

I would have given my integrity away so that I could have a prize.  Yes, this is a little issue, however, this is where it begins.  When I start to shift in my morals and values in the little things, it pours into the bigger things.  It’s the start of a metaphorical avalanche. One small rock can cause the entire side of a mountain to fall down.

Have strength in who you are in Christ.  When we are tempted to give the little things away, turn your focus onto him.  He gave you a calling, morals, and values to keep and when you let these little things go, how can he give us more?  If we aren’t faithful in the little things, how can we be expected to do great things with giant things? 

In the end, I posted an adjusted form of the title knowing I wouldn’t win.  I posted this: 

Want to know the best part?

I won.

Don’t throw your integrity away in the little things. Keep focused on what Jesus has called you to do. 

Simply,

Tex G.M. Rule

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.  But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”  Luke 16:10, NLT.