Does honesty pay ? Being a Christian, I naturally believe it does.
I started my career as an electronics engineer in 1985 before switching to the sales engineer vocation in the same electronics multi-national corporation selling semiconductor components. In the third year with the company, I happened to question the management innocently about the allocation of a critical memory component to a distributor who had never bought this component before. It did not cross my mind then that this distributor would gain a profit of USD 500,000 every month selling this component when the market was terribly short of it.
I was immediately transferred out of the Singapore market coverage to a miserably small market which the company could easily terminate my employment for poor performance after a year. I had no choice but to leave the company.
I prayed earnestly for God’s help as I just got married and I was living from paycheck to paycheck then. All praise to the Lord that I got another job very quickly in the same line.
But this company was also terribly unscrupulous. After working for one year, I managed to do very well in sales and hit the highest commission which was equivalent to half a year’s wages. I learned from the human resource administrator that my employment would be terminated before the end of the year so as to disqualify me from collecting the commission.
I had always been a conscientious worker. I began to have doubt whether honesty does pay. On the contrary, it seemed apparent that the wicked prospered.
I was desperate and I prayed earnestly for God’s deliverance and help again. Praise the Lord for His mercy ! Not only I got my commission but I also landed a new job immediately.
A Spanish company with the regional headquarters in Hongkong called me to go over to Hongkong for the interview. I was recommended by someone I just got acquainted through sales call. It was so timely and swift. But of course, I knew it was God who answered my plea for a fresh start. Since I was only going there for a day or two, it did not occur to me that it was winter there and I went wearing just a business shirt and pants ! God is good.
I was out of the woods again by the grace of God. Today, as I read the paper of how the average American is living from paycheck to paycheck, I can empathize with their predicament of struggling to pay monthly bills. I was not in such predicament because I was a spendthrift but because I had to support my parents and their apartment mortgage besides my own then.
As I progressed through my career, I could finally say that honesty does pay in hindsight. God is good. With Christian virtues of honesty and integrity, I could win over the trust of both the suppliers and the customers when I started my own enterprise. All praise and thanks be to God.