DON'T GET CAUGHT CHEATING

1 Corinthians 6:7-11
7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. 9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

At a Russian Bible college where I was teaching, a member of the staff entered the room as I gave my final exam. Arms folded, he watched closely as the students began to write the answers. Then, quietly, he asked one of the men to move to a desk separate from the others. He had observed that the man was cheating. When I graded the tests, I saw that the student had the first few questions right, then most answers were blank or wrong.

I have occasionally encountered the same problem in other countries where I had taught. Cheating is widespread in the US too. An article in Parade magazine asks, "Are We a Nation of Cheaters?" It begins with the words, "It sure looks that way." Then it offers this evidence from the book The Cheating Culture by David Callahan:

* Executives and workers steal $600 billion from their companies each year.
* 74 percent of high school students say they've cheated.
* 90 percent of college students say they'd lie to increase their chances of getting a good job.
* Nearly 50 percent of résumés contain outright lies.

Cheating is a growing problem even at Christian colleges and universities. In one instance, a young woman who copied an essay straight off the Internet was furious with me because I would not give her credit for completing the assignment.

The apostle Paul said that it is better for a believer in Jesus to be wronged or cheated than to be the cheater. Then he commented, "Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers" (1 Corinthians 6:7-8).

Here's a simple solution. If we never cheat, we'll never need to face the regret and humiliation of our unwise actions. More important, we will be obeying God. --Dave Egner

DESTINATION POINTS

* How can I avoid being caught up in thinking that cheating is okay?
* What kind of cheating do I see going on around me? Do I have a moral obligation to speak up about it?
* Am I cheating right now?

LINKS:
The Cheating Culture
http://www.cheatingculture.com/

Everybody's Doing It
http://www.christianitytoday.com/cl/9c3/9c3034.html

bottom line: Cheating cheapens our testimony for Jesus.

soul journey