Don’t Harvest The Edges
DON’T HARVEST THE EDGES
Read Leviticus 19:9-13; 23:22.
Tony liked to hang around his father’s repair shop and watch as Dad worked. One Saturday Dad was fiddling with a broken toaster. Finally he set the toaster down. “All finished,” he said. On a card he wrote, “Labor, one hour—$10.00.” Then he cleaned the toaster.
Tony frowned. “Dad, you counted wrong,” he said. “I know you worked on that thing for over an hour, besides the time you spent cleaning it.” When his father just smiled, Tony continued. “Whenever you round off the amount somebody owes you, I know you always make it lower, not higher. How are you ever going to make money that way?”
“Oh, I’m managing,” Dad replied cheerfully. “I believe that if I give my customers good service and don’t charge any more than I have to, they’ll keep coming back. Besides, the Bible teaches that we shouldn’t ‘harvest the edges.’”
Tony looked confused. “Huh? I don’t get it.”
“Well, in Leviticus God told farmers to leave some of their crop behind when they harvested it, so that poor people could take what they needed. I figure that the principle applies to my business, too. It means I shouldn’t try to squeeze every nickel I can out of my customers.”
“If the farmer did all the work, he should keep all the harvest,” objected Tony.
“But it’s God who gives us the strength to work, and He blesses our efforts,” Dad reminded Tony. “You’ve got a good head for business, Son, but you need to learn to be more generous. Even if nobody else notices, God will!”
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Do you cheat others in little ways—skipping chores when you think Mom won’t notice, doing a sloppy job on your schoolwork? Begin making an effort to do a little more than what is required.
TO MEMORIZE:
Some who are poor pretend to be rich; others who are rich pretend to be poor.
Proverbs 13:7
BE GENEROUS, NOT GREEDY.
From the book
