I spent the morning putting a diesel heater into a client’s camper van – a tight operation with limited space inside to work with, but this was around my 300th install so I’m fairly good at it now.

With it all done neatly, I was almost finished when I went to replace a panel and the phillips head bit in my drill scratched the black glossy surface of his Thetford fridge – it left a small scratch – probably something you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t look closely – but when you did look closely it was about 4cms long and in the right light was visible.

Bugger…

And then begins the internal wrestle… Do I tell him?… or do I say nothing and hope he discovers it a few months from now and figures he must have done it himself?

And in all of the internal wrestle I know what’s right – and I know what’s dodgy. But even this far down the life of business and faith I still find myself tempted to hide it and say nothing.

What’s with that?!

One part of my brain is saying ‘it’s no big deal – just leave it…’ while another part of my brain says ‘Own it. Suck it up and fix it up.’

Isn’t this where some of the rubber hits the road for those of us who want to do business and life with integrity? ‘Can I get away with it?‘ shouldn’t be a question we are asking ourselves – but here I am…

I have written before about how I approach business. I try to do my job as if I were Jesus, and to treat my client as if he were Jesus. It means always doing what is good and right. Would Jesus fail to report the scratch? Would Jesus leave someone else with the problem?

The answer is glaringly simple, so why the wrestle? Why does my brain still tick with schemes for avoiding responsibility?

When we talk about the idea of sin – or a sinful nature – it can all feel very heavy, but this is simply what is happening. As a Christian I am being transformed into the likeness of Jesus on an ongoing basis – but that only continues to happen while I live in his way – while I submit my darker side to his rule. The ongoing nature of transformation means that I am not there yet – that I will not ‘arrive’ in this lifetime. As a result I am still going to feel the effects of a self that is focused on gaining my own advantage first – of looking out for number 1.

There is a voice in my head saying ‘you can get away with this – just keep his attention on the heater and not on the fridge…’ That voice isn’t Jesus. There is another voice that says, ‘treat people as you would like to be treated,’ and yeah… of course that sounds more like him.

So yes – I told him… You’d hope that, but the point of this post isn’t to say ‘hey look at my virtuous choice’, but rather to acknowledge the wrestles we all face in our workplaces – the challenges to our integrity that will come in various forms – and then to call us to the tougher choice, because it simply is the right thing to do.

A long time ago I came across a Proverb (22:1) that says, ‘A good reputation is preferable to riches, and the approval of others is better than precious silver or gold.’ On days like these I revisit these words, along with Jesus simple call to love your neighbour as yourself.’

There’s no rocket science here. It’s all very simple – yet it’s also very confronting because I am ‘not there yet’… and I’ve been on the road of faith a very long time.

I guess I will lose a few hundred dollars on today’s job because of that mistake – and that’s annoying – but I will sleep better at night knowing I have made the right choice and been consistent in my thinking and practice. And next time it happens (because it will…) the ‘wrestle’ will hopefully be easier as the habit of ‘doing what’s right’ begins to come more naturally and easily.

So if you find yourself at work sometimes wondering, ‘can I get away with this? Can I pretend it wasn’t me?‘ just know you’re not alone. The lure of a self serving solution will always be there. But we also have the capacity to choose.

Take a deep breath and make the right choice.