I recently did the grocery shopping for our family. It took an hour longer than expected, but the journey was well worth it. When I finished, the lady behind the register told me I had saved $43.49. She circled the savings on my receipt and I left the store with a smile.
The whole drive home I couldn’t stop thinking about how excited Molly would be to see what I had saved (I hoped it would cover up for the few things that slipped into my cart that were not on her original list).
From this experience I formed a strategy for all grocery shopping in the future: while the bottom-line total was the goal, I resolved to always care about each item’s price individually. The only way to maximize the total savings was to pay attention to every decision that allowed something to get into my cart.
You see, I can’t just care about the packs of chicken being buy-one-get-one-free. Though that is a great savings of $7.06, I still have to care about the grapes being $0.29 less per pound. Every penny counts.
Grocery shopping is a lot like preserving my integrity.
If I am going have the maximum impact with my life, them I must make sure each decision I make is the most upright decision possible. Every small choice counts.
Sure, large decisions like not sleeping with someone else’s wife or not stealing from your company are important. If we fail in the large decisions then the small decisions barely matter. But usually it is the large decisions that we naturally pay more attention to because the consequences are more public, embarrassing, and potentially detrimental.
It is the small decisions we too often ignore. A small white lie to save face or a gander at something we shouldn’t be looking at – but we say it doesn’t matter cause no one will ever know – these are the things that collectively will impact the bottom line of our integrity.
Paul’s instruction to Timothy is important for us as well: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:16) This is not just an instruction about preserving doctrine but about preserving integrity as well. If we persist in purity of character we will preserve ourselves, others, and the glory of God in us.
Pay attention to the small decisions – or every single decision, for that matter. The savings is worth it.
