Ronald Page

Ronald Page must have felt as if he had found the goose that laid golden
eggs.
Every time he went to an ATM to withdraw money from his bank account, he was
allowed to take large amounts - in the thousands of dollars. This should
have
struck him as curious, because earlier in the week there was only $300 in
his
bank account. He had not deposited thousands since then.

By the time everything came to light, Page had taken over $1.5 million.
Since
the bank allowed him to make such massive withdrawals, he felt everything
was
OK. And since he had made the transactions at ATM machines in casinos, he
gambled with the money. And lost all of it.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Detroit doesn't agree with the old adage,
"Finders
Keepers, Losers Weepers". True, the bank's computer system experienced a
glitch, which resulted in this error. But Page was not entitled to keep the
money and has instead been sentenced to 15 months in prison, ordered to
repay
the money, and forbidden to gamble again. In this case, at least, the
finder is
the one who is weeping.

Among the many traits the Bible stresses is honesty. Honesty means
respecting
the ownership rights of others, and doing nothing that would take another
person's property to make it our own without an agreed-upon transaction.
This
principle applies to the old adage under discussion.

Nearly 3,500 years ago this truth was taught to the Jewish people: "You
shall
not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from
them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. And if your
brother
is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your
own
house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you
shall
restore it to him. ... so you shall do with his garment; with any lost thing
of
your brother's, which he has lost and you have found ..." (Deuteronomy
22:1-3).

Gehazi tried to manipulate a situation to bring riches to himself. His
master,
the prophet Elisha, had refused a reward from Naaman the Syrian, who was
overjoyed to have his leprosy cleansed. As Naaman was returning to his
home,
Gehazi lied to him, saying that his master had discovered a need and would
take
some of that reward after all. Elisha found out about the dishonesty,
though,
and pronounced a sentence of leprosy upon Gehazi (2 Kings 5:1-27). Gehazi
learned, as Ronald Page has, that honesty is far better than ill-gotten
gain.

"Honest weights and scales are the Lord's; all the weights in the bag are
His
work" (Proverbs 16:11). God is not only concerned with our behavior on
Sunday
mornings in worship, but also throughout the week in the ways we deal with
one
another.

The same is true in our new covenant. Instructions given to slaves in Titus
2:9,10 apply to all today who work for others: "Slaves must obey their
masters
and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but
they
must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will
make
the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way" (New Living
Translation).

How thankful we should be that we have been found (Luke 19:10)! In our
gratitude for that fact, let us live honestly and above reproach.

Timothy D. Hall