Five-finger Discount
FIVE-FINGER DISCOUNT
Read Proverbs 4:20-27.
At the department store, Sherman met his friends Joshua and Henry. “Hi,” he said.
“Hi. Want to play five-finger discount with us?” Joshua asked.
“What’s that?” asked Sherman.
“You find something that you can pick up with five fingers, and you hide it in your hand,” whispered Joshua. “The discount is when you walk out of the store without paying for it.”
“That’s stealing,” gasped Sherman.
“Shhh,” Henry whispered. “Sometimes you can’t get what you want any other way.”
Sherman cupped his hand around a little car. For a long time he had wanted a car like that for his collection.
“Go on,” his friends urged him. “It’s easy.”
Sherman put the car down.
“Think about it,” said Joshua. “You can come back for it tomorrow.”
Dessert that night was chocolate fudge cake. Mom sat down and looked at her piece. Suddenly she got up and put it back on the cake plate. “When I see a dessert, I think it looks good, so I eat it,” she said. “Then I get upset when I find out my diet isn’t working. Sometimes it’s hard to resist something you enjoy doing no matter what it will cost you in the long run.”
Sherman knew what she meant. He had been tempted to do something wrong just because he would enjoy having a little car. Even if he hadn’t gotten caught, the car would have cost him a guilty conscience and many uncomfortable moments. He was glad he had resisted.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Are there things you think you need right away just to please yourself? The excitement you’d enjoy at first isn’t worth the long-term results. Trust God to meet your needs in His own good time.
TO MEMORIZE:
We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods.
2 Corinthians 4:2
PLEASE GOD, NOT YOURSELF.
From the book
