I’ll be traveling and taking some vacation time through November 15th, so Purposed worKING will be revisiting some earlier posts until then…

“When you make an agreement with a neighbor to buy or sell property, you must never take advantage of each other.”

Much of work is about “dealing”.   Dealing shows up all over the place. We deal when we work with customers and negotiate fees, services, deliveries, etc. We deal with our co-workers when trying to decide who is going to do what and when. We deal with our boss when we figure out pay, hours, assignments, performance assessments, etc. We deal with ourselves when we inwardly decide on how hard to work and how much to put into our jobs. We deal with our family and loved ones over the days and hours we will be working versus be with them. Yes, we are constantly dealing. There are those who are superb at getting the best deal and those that aren’t that good at getting a deal closed successfully. Dealing is a skill but it is just as much as an art as the best deals are those that everyone who is involved walks away feeling satisfied and treated fairly. A deal that is one-sided, while at the time looks good for the winner, is not a good deal. Anytime the other side feels like a loser or taken advantage of, then it is almost assured that the deal won’t last and the relationship of the people who made the deal will be acrimonious. The art part of deal-making is being able to read and know the emotions of the other person and knowing when to pull-up and stop pushing any further.

When in doubt, we can do two things to know where the line is drawn. First, we should apply the Golden Rule. It if it would feel bad to us if we were on the other side of the deal, then we’ve pushed too far. Secondly, we must listen to God’s voice speaking to us through the principle taught in Leviticus 25:14; “When you make an agreement with a neighbor to buy or sell property, you must never take advantage of each other.” Today, you are going to “deal” a number of times. Think hard about what God has said to us about making those deals. If we become one who always makes a fair and equitable deal, then we will also be known as one who others can approach and gain learning. We never know when we might get the opportunity to tell others about the most marvelous and fantastic deal of everlasting life and when that chance comes, we want to be able to do so as a person who consistently and credibly reflects in our work lives and rest of life the ways and the principles of our Lord.

Reference: Leviticus 25:14 (New Living Testament)