Fighting

More than often we hear the preacher faithfully exhorting his congregation to resist and to combat corruption. We find ourselves passionately agreeing in prayer when the minister invites us to stand in the gap for our nation and ask Providence for a righteous government, one that is free of corruption, an epitome of integrity. We would even be able to relate to an incident where we break down and cry out to God to wipe out those corrupt serpents from the nation’s corridor of power. All is good.
But there comes a point of time where what we want, is really questioned. Well, at the very least, I was being questioned. Do I want a country stubbornly stained with corruption or do I want a nation of which I can stand up and say that I’m proud that its clean.
It all starts from us, really. I rear-ended a car recently. I was sad of course. In fact, sad is an understatement. I was utterly inwardly crushed. The girl [driver] was of course a temptation for me to announce its astudity. She didn’t know what to do. I had to offer my identification card number, my contact and everything necessary. She wanted me to assess the injury. I knew from there that she wasn’t really that ‘wise’. I consciously did not want to take advantage of her. I told her I’d get it to a mechanic and repair the damage. She said she’d contact me later.
She did, and she said the damage is RM500 which was a ridiculously large amount of money. I said fine, I’d pay but I can only do that by instalment. She refused and said that her mechanic could not accept it [she could have paid him first] and that she could not bring her car to my mechanic because she lived in mainland. I foresaw that she wanted to take advantage of me. In disappointment, I told her to make a police report.
I was told to tell my father to make a police report, stating that it was him who drove the car to avoid paying an extra of RM 400 on top of a RM 300 summon because I was below 21. So I obediently did. My father made a police report. The police didn’t believe it was him who drove it. He showed the report made by the girl. She stated that it was a male in his early 20s who drove it. It was clearly me.
All I wanted is to avoid paying an extra RM 400 to the insurance company. So I handed in my licence for the police’s documentation. To my horror, it was then I realised that my licence expired by a day. My father immediately jumped to his feet and made arrangements to treat the police. And the police on the other hand, while he had no choice but to issue a summon on two offences [causing an accident & driving with an expired licence], he promised to settle the payment for me in return of a special treat. I just stood back with disgust, filth, shame, guilt all scribbled on my face. I didn’t know that I would have allowed myself to degrade this low. What would my Liege think of my doing? How sure am I that He will approve of it? Or perhaps I should rephrase my rhetoric. How sure I am that He will disapprove of it? As surely as the sun that rises from the lofty mountains every morn.
While my head hung low, disappointed at how deceitful I became, this is what I understood from my situation, as illuminated by the Spirit. I did something wrong and therefore, I must own up to it. That is what it means to be a man. I must be responsible for my actions. And what about the fine I so much wanted to avoid? I am proud to say I am frugal when it comes spending. But it sure made me a different person. I tried so much to avoid paying extra. Could I have wanted to avoid paying more at any cost? Am I willing to pay the price; to deny my allegiance to Christ?



Today I withdrew RM 800 from my bank account. I’m going to pay my fine. I don’t feel good about losing so much cash especially when I am terribly short of them. But I know this, that God approves of what I am doing, and secondly, that my Father is rich beyond what I can ever imagine. As I obey and walk as a man of integrity, I know He’s going to bless me.
Today I felt a peace I have not felt for quite some time, especially during the nights , thinking if any of the planned deception should fail. I know I have lost a large sum of money, but I know I have gained a life. He’s proud of me. And that makes it all right.