It honestly pays off to be honest.
This week, one evening, as I was returning home in the van, I had an unfortunate event take place. I opened the van door, turned to grab my stuff and by then the fierce wind had already taken my door before I could stop it, slamming it into the side of my neighbor's fairly new car. Ah!
There is no other option than to go knock on his door and inform him. I didn't look forward to that. As I'm walking to the apartment, this external voice throws out, "you wouldn't really have to tell him...it may have happened in another parking lot by someone else". I immediately rebuked that darkness and knew that honesty was the ONLY way.
Honesty is huge to me. There are no such things as little white lies. Lying is a serious matter. As a child, I remember such a high standard of honesty being taught to me. My mom also feels very strong about honesty. I would even tattle on myself if I did something wrong, even if I knew I'd get a spanking out of it =)
So, I knocked on the neighbor's door and tried to communicate what happened to him and his wife. He hardly speaks any English, so thankfully his wife was present! I apologized for the accident and they were so sweet about it. He goes down to look at the damage, saying that if it is just a little scratch, he'll fix the paint.
He returns to explain it is also quite the dent, which I was aware of. That wind was so strong that there's no way there wasn't a dent! That he could not fix and would need to make a claim.
So, I called MPI and told on myself once again, booking an appointment for later on that week.
When I got to the appointment there was a mixed up on my file with contact numbers, and the woman I was to meet with was trying to get a hold of me before I arrived, so that I wouldn't have had to make the trip down.
Great news! It was the wind. The van was parked. You don't require a driver's license to open a door. So, I assumed responsibility by calling in, which waived my neighbor's deductible. But, because of the wind situation, I didn't have to pay my deductible or have a surcharge on my license!
Honesty truly paid off this time (though in the area of the heart it always pays off)...neither of us have to pay anything and he gets his car fixed. Had I decided not to be honest, I would have had sin on my plate and guilt on my conscience, but wouldn't have paid anything. My neighbor on the other hand, is leasing the car and would have had to pay for the damage himself.
Sometimes it is inconvenient to tell the truth and assume responsibility for something going wrong, but it really matters. It matters to the Lord and it matters to the maturity of our hearts and the intimacy we can have in our relationship with Jesus. We need to be tenacious in our fight against sin in our lives.
