“When you make an agreement with your neighbor to buy or sell property, you must not take advantage of each other.”

The definition of a contract is this: “a written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or tenancy, that is intended to be enforceable by law.”   So, we should be able to count on contracts staying the same once agreed upon and signed by both parties.  But, that is not always true.  Even contracts can be, during extenuating circumstances, changed or modified, even though we don’t want that to happen.  Take right now, that rents are not being paid and leases are being broken because of the economic situation. Sometimes this is happening because the renter can’t pay and in many cases it is happening because the landlord has been willing to change the terms to delay or forgive payments because they feel the circumstances call for them to make an exception to the contract.  And there are those who know that they should modify a contract but they don’t and then use that in a way that ends up feeling unfair.  We’ve been watching ESPN’s “Last Dance” about the final season of the Chicago Bulls with coach Phil Jackson. One of the things that happened in that time was that Scottie Pippen, who had signed a long-term contract with the Bulls became far more valuable as a player in the league than his contract terms had anticipated.  The GM of The Bulls refused to open up the contract and renegotiate more of a fair-market value for Pippen.  The Bulls were well within their legal rights to do nothing and that is what they did, but then, and now 35 years later, it didn’t reflect well on how The Bulls handled the situation or their players. So, sometimes, contracts are contracts and other times, contracts become the starting off place for new arrangements that can feel more of a win-win versus one-sided.

God made contracts with the Israelites and He made a contract with us when He promised us eternal life with the giving of Jesus for our sins.  We are being challenged right now economically to decide what is the right thing to do with our businesses, teams, customers, etc.  It’s far from easy to figure out, but let’s consider that people of their faith, which makes them people of their word, their commitments and contracts are people who can find what is right by leaning on their faith to lead and guide them through any time of uncertainty.  On the backside of all of this, will be strong memories of those who did the right things by others and honored them as best they could.

Reference: Leviticus 25: 14 (New Living Translation)