Should You Be Honest at All Times?

"Finders Keepers"

How do you feel when you find something valuable that someone has lost?  To many, this arouses immediate feelings of  possession, causing them to wave aside any thought of returning it.  They have a "finders keepers" philosophy.   Some may feel that there is no harm done.  After all, they reason the owner has undoubtedly written it off as a loss.  Others say that it is not their responsibility to seek out the owner - a chore that might entail a lot of effort.

How does God view the matter? Deuteronomy 22:1-3 shows that a finder was not simply to keep the item he finds but rather to keep it "until he [the owner] claims it, and then give it back to him."   (The New English Bible)  If the finder did not make known his find, he could have been accused of stealing.  (Exodus 22:9) Is this practical today?   Christine is convinced that it is.

Christine is the director of a private school.  One Wednesday, she picked up her month's salary in cash.  In typical West African fashion, she bundled the bills and stuffed them in her bag.  She then flagged down a motorcycle taxi and sped off to a meeting.  On arriving, she fumbled in her bag for coins to pay the driver.  In the darkness, the bundle of bills fell to the ground unnoticed.

Minutes later, a 19-year old Blaise, a stranger to the area, came down the street.  He had arranged to meet a friend at the same meeting that Christine attended.  He spotted the bundle of bills and put them into his pocket.  At the end of the meeting, he informed his friend that he had found something outside and that anyone who had lost something could phone him and identify it.

When Christine got  home that evening she was shocked to discover that her month's pay was missing.  A week later, when she revealed the loss to her friend Josephine, she was told that a visitor at that meeting has found something.  Christine phoned Blaise and identified the denominations of the bills.  She was overjoyed when Blaise returned the money.  What about Blaise?  He had kept the money for a week, but he said, "the joy I experienced from returning the money was greater than that from keeping it."

Next time: Why They Strive to Be Honest at All Times

Watchtower, 2010