By Xiaoye, France
Recently, I had been looking for a part-time job. And I saw a want ad on the Internet and thought it is good in the working items, the salary and all the other aspects. Then I contacted the manager of the company and made an appointment to have an interview the next day at the company.
The next day, a lady in her 40’s also came to apply for this job. I thought: The lady looks more mature and steady than me, and very likely the manager will engage her and refuse me. So I couldn’t help feeling worried in my heart. Later, the manager asked us to his office and told us: “Now I have opened a web page, and the one who can print the page will be employed.” Finishing saying this, he went out of the office. Looking at the page on the computer, I felt very nervous: I can just do something easy like making charts or files but not print documents from a computer. By comparison, isn’t obvious that I will lose? It looks like that lady will be employed and I will be hopeless. As expected, she did manage to do that at last.
Not long after, the manager walked into the office and saw the document. Instead of asking who printed it, he began to talk about the salary. That lady said she wanted a salary of 1,500 yuan a month and the manager said, “This is just a part-time job. You’re asking too much.” But that lady’s tone was very tough and left no room for negotiation, so the manager directly let her go back for a response.
After her leaving, the first question the manager asked me was whether I printed the document. I thought: The manager didn’t ask me in front of the lady. It looks like the manager might think it’s me who printed this at the beginning and now he just wants to confirm it! But now, am I going to say that I printed it or speak honestly? I hesitated over this: If I say it’s me who printed it, then this job will be in the bag for me, but if I speak the truth, then it won’t be mine. It was during the struggle that I thought of God’s words: “Be an honest person, not someone who’s always being clever, always crafty. (Here I am asking you again to be an honest person.)” God asks us to be honest people; He doesn’t like cunning man. I thought: If I tell lies in order to obtain the job, am I not lying and cheating? Through using lies to defraud the manager of his trust, even if “winning” this job, I won’t feel “glorious” but less assured. What’s most important is that I am a Christian, and that being an honest person and speaking the truth is God’s requirement of Christians. I cannot sell the principle of being human to protect my personal benefit, and moreover cannot shame God because of this. I should live out the honest likeness of Christians to glorify and witness God. Then I secretly determined that whether I got the job or not, I would be willing to put down my selfishness to speak the truth and be an honest person. No matter what the result was, I was willing to entrust it to God and submit to His sovereignty.
At this moment, I calmly answered the manager: “No, I didn’t do it. It’s that lady who did it.” The manager looked at me surprisedly and sighed: “You’re very honest and I trust you. There are few of the young of today like you! No sooner had you come here than I showed favor to you at first sight. Now it looks like I’ve made a correct choice!” What the manager said was completely beyond what I had anticipated. I could never have thought that I would still be employed after telling the truth. Later, the manager acquainted me with the work flow and told me to practice more at home and work here formally in two days.
I excitedly thanked God in my heart. Speaking honestly not only didn’t let me lose the job but gave me a chance to work. I genuinely appreciated that if we live according to God’s requirements, we’ll feel steady in our hearts. This gain is not merely a material blessing but the joy of the soul and the trust of others after I spoke the truth! Thank God for guiding me to experience the joy of being an honest person!