I saw a very good short film that started off with a man who was working on his own late at night making photo copies. One page came out of the photo copier with a big black spot on it nearly covering the whole page.

The man, let’s call him Frank, was confused by the big black spot and put the page on a table close by, then continued with his photocopying. Later on, his thoughts far away, Frank put his empty coffee mug on the page with the spot and with a thump the mug fell right through the spot. Suddenly Frank was wide awake. He put his hand through the black spot and picked up his mug. Surprised, he contemplated the page.

When he looked up, he saw the vending machine against the wall right in front of him. You could see the wheels turning in his head as he thought. He walked across, and put the white paper with the black spot against the glass of the machine. He slowly brought his hand closer to the spot and yes, he could reach right through the spot against the glass and take a chocolate – free!

Chewing on the chocolate, he looked around the room, his eyes stopping at the door to his boss’ office. He quickly walked over, put the white paper with the black spot against the glass door of the boss’ office, put his hand through the paper and calmly unlocked the door from the inside. Obviously, he went directly to the safe and repeated the process with the paper with the black spot on it.

He took out bundles of notes. A lot. Soon his body was halfway through the spot in the safe and the heap of notes on the outside grew higher and higher. To get the last bundle or two from the safe he climbed inside. Just as he got in, the white page with the black spot fell from the door …

The story this film had to tell was on the spot (no pun intended!). This is how the devil catches you. First something small like chocolate, then something a little bigger and before you know it, it’s too big to turn around – and one time or another you get caught.

28Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work.

And immediately most of us want to stop reading here, because we don’t steal. I may be taking it a bit too far, but if we are not speaking the whole truth or hides a little piece of the truth, we are stealing. We’re stealing from the truth. And here most of us also fall through the black spot.

Even if during work hours you are doing something that’s got nothing to do with work. If you do not have permission to do it, aren’t you stealing your employer’s time? Will you allow the boss to sit in your office every moment of the day to watch how you are spending his time? Wow, this is not an easy one.

We must be completely honest in everything we do. We must take care that we are not pulled in by a little thing and then later allow bigger dishonesty in our lives. You may be starting off with a crumb, but the next round could well be the whole cookie.

Scripture:

Ephesians 4:17-32

Reflection

Do you stand for the truth and the whole truth only?

Where can be an open door to escape the truth?

How can you close that door?

Prayer

Father, please help me not to give the devil a hold on my life. I want to be 100% honest in everything. Please help me to watch out for places where dishonesty wants to take a hold so that I can stamp it out. With your Spirit everything is possible. Amen