The Cost of Doing What’s Right
Leadership Lessons Book-by-Book – Jeremiah
Many years ago, when I was a young Christian, I used to do office managing for a local company where I oversaw its administrative functions. One day our company received a huge contract from a mainland company and all of sudden everything changed. This small local company now had a huge contract with a mainland company that had weight. There was a lot of celebration in the office because everyone had worked hard to secure this contract. After the celebration died down, and the real work began, something began to emerge. This small local company could not fulfill its obligations to the large mainland company. If we couldn’t fulfill our obligations, we would owe the mainland company a lot of money. The owners of our company had talked a big talk but couldn’t walk the big walk. They began to do a “shuck and jive” with the mainland company; they continued to make promises they knew they couldn’t fulfill.
The owners brought me in to their offices one day and asked me to participate in a live conference call with the mainland company. They asked me to go over the details of the contract, talk as much as I could, and ask for things that would take them awhile to fulfill. In other words, they were asking me to stall; they needed more time to figure out what they could do. They also asked me to lie about our ability to fulfill the contract. This didn’t sit well with me. We weren’t being truthful with the mainland company. The owners knew I was a Christian but they were asking me to do something that was unethical.
I knew what I needed to do. I couldn’t continue with the company. If I stayed any longer, my integrity would be compromised. But I had a family to support and I was getting a good salary with medical benefits for my family. It would be difficult to find another job that would pay as well. After struggling for some time, I handed in my resignation notice.
Have you ever struggled with doing the right thing, knowing that it would cost you something? You might have experienced a similar situation where you knew you couldn’t continue in your workplace because of some unethical practices. Or you had to confront a friend knowing that it could cost the friendship. Or maybe, on a very rare occasion, you had to leave a church because a pastor did something immoral but nothing had been done about it, knowing that it would mean having to find a new church and a new ministry. It’s not easy, is it?
The prophet Jeremiah faced such a situation. At the get go, the Lord told him what to expect, “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant…they will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 1:10, 19). Jeremiah was told that he would have to confront different nations and its leaders and they would fight against him. And Jeremiah went through difficult times because of this: the people of Anathoth tried to kill him (11:21), Pashur the priest had the prophet beaten and put into stocks (20:2), and he was thrown in a cistern where he sank in the mud (38:6).
You would think that Jeremiah would give up after going through so much. But here is what is unique about Jeremiah. He so desperately wanted the people to turn back to the Lord, he said, “But if I say, ‘I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name,’ then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it” (20:9). The message he had for the people burned within him. He had to do what was right, even if it cost him his life.
The Lord may not have asked you to speak to your nation about its sin but you may be facing a situation where doing what is right may cost you something. I know several people who are facing such a situation. Either the owners of the company they work for are doing something unethical or the owners are asking them to do something unethical. They know they can’t stay but the prospects for another job are slim. In another situation I have a pastor friend on the mainland who disagreed with an improper decision his senior pastor made. The senior pastor has given him an ultimatum – either quit or agree with the improper decision.
We will be faced with tough decisions, if not now then in the future. And the decisions we make may cost us something. We can learn from the prophet Jeremiah. Despite all the difficulties he went through, he continued to do the right thing.
Leaders, the cost of obeying the Lord outweighs the cost of our comfort and security.
Questions to Think About
• Can you think of a time when someone asked you to do something that wasn’t right? What did you decide to do? What were the ripple effects of your actions?
• Are you in a situation where you are being asked to do something that isn’t right? What could it potentially cost you?
© Gary Lau 2015
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