Back when I was in business school, my ethics professor presented us with a problem.  It was a common problem in the 1980s.  You are a salesperson trying to make sales in the international market place where corruption is rampant.  It is against US law to pay or receive a bribe.  It is expected that you will pay a bribe in order to make a sale.  So, what do you do?

That is a similar problem that many Christians face within our secular society.  I have worked for companies that expected their managers to cheat their employees.  I have worked for companies that regularly shortchanged their customers.  For the past 41 years I have been in the instrument repair business where, like automotive repair a technician can replace a 25 cent part and charge for changing out a $375 assembly.  The opportunities for fraud are unlimited.  What do we as Christian people do when faced with the choice to commit fraud or lose our job?

These are difficult questions and they have a way of getting very complicated.  Many people would suffer greatly if they did what they wanted to do and what their morality told them to do, and they could probably withstand the consequences of that choice, but along with themselves they would drag a spouse and children with them into the suffering.  But that brings the question asked here out of the realm of the theoretical and into the harsh light of real life.

Jesus said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” and many peoplefind that saying to be very challenging.  It sounds as though Jesus is telling us that we are at war.  And that is exactly what he is saying.  We are at war with the way of the world.  This is not a war over money, or land, or natural resources, but rather a war for souls.  Every day of our lives we are called to stand for something.  And what we stand for is demonstrated by what we wear, and what we drive, and how we live, and how we work, and how we earn and how we give.  Every facet of our lives is involved in this warfare.  It is no wonder that some denominations make such sharp lines for their young people to teach them where the battle lines are drawn.  We, as Anglicans live on a different plain.  Rather than living on Thou shalts and Thou shalt nots, as Anglican Christians we are taught how to discern the battle and how to choose our fights.  It is a much more difficult and a more discerning method of warfare, but our strength is that we learn the principles rather than just the rules.

So, what do you do?  I’m no great example, but faced with my own set of choices in a sea of bad options, I chose to quit and start my own business where I could charge a customer 25 cents plus my labor and go to bed at night and sleep soundly.  I never became a rich man, except that I was rich in good friends and wealthy in faithful customers.  The first several years were hard for me financially, but God has blessed me far beyond my wildest dreams.