A young man was ditched by his brothers (because they were jealous of him) who sold him as a slave to the merchants. The merchants instead sold him to an influential and wealthy man who employed this young man, to look after the affairs of his household.
The young man, though very hurt and lonely, pursued his duty diligently and devotedly and within a few days won the confidence of his master.
Now the wife of the influential man nurtured lustful attitude towards the young man. She always waited for the opportunity to spend time with him alone. One day when the owner of the house was away on business, the lady of the house grabbed the opportunity to ask the young man to come to bed with her. The young man though on the threshold of his youth, denied this advance since he respected his master and above all he knew that it was unethical and sinful according to Godly standards. The woman forced him but the young man freed himself and ran away from the lady. The lady felt insulted and angrily avenged herself by accusing the young man of assaulting her.
The owner automatically believed his wife and had the young man arrested.
The young man was again in trouble for no fault of his own. He faced this consequence because of his honesty towards his master which was possible because he was a man of integrity. Integrity is the attitude of the heart which always results in incorruptible and upright behavior of the person. Often this virtue is overlooked and avoided as we come in friction with the pressures of the systems of our society. We fail to put this integrity into practice in the “market place” because we are afraid to loose or run into trouble.
Yet, convictions are important because they make our personality. At the end of the day we should be able to sleep in peace because of our convictions no matter what the consequences.
