There is a mountain in China called Mt. Hua Shan that hosts one of the most dangerous walking paths in the world. You climb all over a mountain side, holding onto a chain while walking across planks high above the mountainside. Have a look at how scary this climb looks here.
Do you know what is at the top? A tea house. Can you believe that? People do that climb and all they get at the end is a little bit of tea?!?
Over the last few months we have sold our house and both of our cars. When it was all said and done we had great people who bought all three. One of the things that has constantly come up in buying and selling vehicles is just how little integrity there is out there in the world. People are constantly trying to cheat the system. They want you to lie on the title for them or they will lie on it for you. Some bought the car from another person but never even filled out the title to begin with so that they could try to sell it to someone else without them having to pay taxes on it. Some people want to be dishonest about the condition of the car in order to sell it as quickly as possible and leave you holding the bag. It is a classic example of the world being the world and it should come as no surprise.
In this whole process I have met a handful of good, honest people but I have also met a very high number of people who could care less about the value of integrity. Integrity is costly. There are things you might not sell as well or for as high or even sell at all when you are honest about it. But the cost of not having integrity is even higher. It will cost you trust. It will cost you deep, intimate relationships, and it will cost you your relationship with God. Lacking integrity in order to get a financial edge or save a few bucks is like climbing the side of that mountain to get a cup of tea. It might seem like a thrill but in the end it is all pretty foolish.
So have integrity, even if it seems to “cost” you something because it is very important that you deal with people honestly, justly and with as much integrity as possible.
