Characters For Sale

I had a senior pastor of a church I attended about 25 years ago (not the pastor or church I'm in now).... tell this story one Sunday morning from the pulpit. It raised a more than a few eyebrows...

"A well-dressed man meets a woman in a bar and makes her this proposal.... Would you sleep with me if I gave you one million dollars?".... The woman is stunned (momentarily) by the question, and then she thinks it over for a minute and says, "Yes, I guess I would... for a million dollars."
The man then says, "What about for ten dollars?".... The woman looks at him appallingly and says, "Just what kind of woman do you think I am?".... The man retorts: "We've already determined that.... now we're just haggling on the price.".....
The pastor was giving a message that Sunday morning on "Character".... Do we have it?... and, what would it take to cross that line?

Donald Miller, in his book, "To Own A Dragon", recounts a scene from the movie, "The Family Man", starring Nicholas Cage. Nicholas' character is standing behind a woman who is paying for an item at a convenience store. The store owner, played by Don Cheadle, is given a dollar bill by the woman but proceeds to give her back change as if she had handed him a ten-dollar bill. He counts it out to her, giving her back nine dollars in "change". The woman hesitates, just for a split-second, put the money in her purse and walks out the door. The store owner then looks at Nicholas Cage and says, "Did you see that? That woman just sold her character for nine dollars." He knew all along and was simply testing her to see what she would do.

It's tempting..... To sell our character. Maybe we wouldn't do it for nine dollars.... or ninety dollars... or nine hundred dollars... but, what if I were to find a bag full of money along the side of the road?.... Thousands of dollars... just for the taking.
We read, once in awhile, about a person who discovers a large sum of cash. Perhaps it fell out of a Wells Fargo truck and ended up along the side of the road. We read about that person returning the money, not keeping it. And the newspapers and t.v. reporters are always right there asking the question... "Why?".... "Why didn't you just keep the money?".... And usually the person says something like, "Because it wouldn't have been the right thing to do. It wasn't mine to keep."
I love it when I hear stories like that... and I know you do too. I keep telling myself, "Yep, that's what I would do,... return the money!" (I hope I'm not lying to myself)...
But... then again,... there are other ways of selling our character that has nothing to do with monetary gain. Slacking off on the job....robbing our employer of his/her money that they are paying us to work.... Doing something that I know is a bad example to my kids or my wife but doing it anyway... just because "I want to"..... Refusing to apologize when I've really offended someone. Not repaying a debt.... the list could go on and on and on.

One thing I love about A.A. and programs like it is that they insist, not only on dealing with addiction, but they also insist on character-building. They take you through the 12-Step program (there are others, like Celebrate Recovery), and, with each step there is a process that one goes through that in "some way relates to character-building. It's a great thing. A humbling thing, .. but a great thing nonetheless. (Being in Recovery is more than just "not drinking/drugging").... it's a lifestyle change...

I pray, with God's help, to try and maintain good character traits throughout my life. It will definitely take God's help because I know I can be suckered-in really quick to doing stupid things. I have a history.....
Anyway, I think it's important to be careful, to treat ourselves with respect and hold fast to our integrity... and when we screw-up somewhere (we will), to have the courage (and humility) to try to put things right again. Whether it's nine dollars, ninety dollars, or nine million dollars, .. it's still character prostitution.....Just ask my old pastor....