Learned to Be Honest – The Testimony of a Cashier

Pictures of The Church of Almighty God  

By Jinxin

When She Was Consumed by Greed, God’s Words Guided Her

    Ou Yang was a cashier at a hamburger restaurant. On a Sunday morning, the restaurant was crowded with people and the business was especially good. Ou Yang not only had to attend to the guests and take their orders, but also was responsible for giving the orders to the kitchen, serving the food and collecting money. As Ou Yang was extremely busy with her work, she heard someone calling her name; she looked up, and saw her aunt and her aunt’s 4-year-old granddaughter. Ou Yang hurried to tell her aunt to find a seat and ordered a hamburger and a drink for her aunt’s granddaughter;
having no time for her aunt, she immediately went back to work. Later, the guests in the restaurant became more and more. Seeing that Ou Yang was really busy, her aunt said goodbye to her. Taking leave of her aunt, Ou Yang continued with her work.

    At the end of the day, Ou Yang did all the cleaning, and waited for the manager to check the accounts. At that moment, she thought: What a busy day! When I get home, I’m gonna take a hot bath and have a sweet sleep. “Ou Yang,” the manager interrupted her thoughts. “Why is the cash today 100 yuan short?” Hearing her words, Ou Yang said, with an expression of disbelief, “What? That’s impossible! Did you miscount?” “I have counted the money a few times,” said the manager. “If you don’t believe me, count for yourself.” Ou Yang took the money from the manager and counted it; then, she said to herself, “How could this happen?” If there is 100 yuan missing, according to the rules and regulations of the company, she would have to pay for the loss. Thinking of this, Ou Yang felt aggrieved: It has been nearly a month since I worked here, and I’ve never made such a mistake. After a whole day’s work, I am so tired that I have a sore back, but the money I earned even can’t cover the money I am fined. Why does the company make such rules? And why does the cashier have to be fined if there is a problem with the money? What bad luck! If I had known this, I wouldn’t have worked here. Just then, it suddenly occurred to Ou Yang: No matter whether good things happen or bad things happen, God’s good will is in them all. As a Christian, I should seek God’s will in all things rather than fixate on or complain about them. Ou Yang then prayed silently to God, “O God! Faced with this matter, I don’t know what Your will is or what I should learn. May You enlighten me.”

    After the prayer, Ou Yang thought of God’s words: “You ought to know that God likes an honest man. God has the substance of faithfulness, and so His word can always be trusted. Furthermore, His actions are faultless and unquestionable. This is why God likes those who are absolutely honest with Him.” Ou Yang couldn’t help thinking why God enlightened her with these words. In pondering, she suddenly recalled that, when she bought a 9 yuan combo for her aunt’s granddaughter, she was so busy that she served the food without printing the receipt. After finishing her work, she remembered that she hadn’t paid for the combo, but then she got greedy and thought: Since I didn’t make out the receipt, nobody will know if I don’t pay for it. Recalling this, Ou Yang nodded slightly and got to know: It wasn’t by chance that this happened. God inspects people’s hearts and He is perfectly clear about my deceit; He hates my misdeeds and so He created such an environment to deal with me. Though 9 yuan isn’t much, my nature is thoroughly revealed by it. For the sake of my own personal benefit, I didn’t care about my conscience or dignity; I am too lowly and worthless in character. Then Ou Yang prayed silently to God, “O God! I am wrong. I shouldn’t have pocketed the 9 yuan, much less should I have been deceitful. Today, the missing 100 yuan today is the result of my greed and deceitfulness. I’m willing to repent in Your name and pay for the mistake I made.”

Turning Back and Being Honest, She Saw God’s Mercy

    When Ou Yang was willing to obey that environment, the manager suddenly reminded her, “Why don’t you count the money again?” At that time, Ou Yang’s heart settled considerably. She took the money from the manager and counted it again. Then she said to the manager in amazement, “Madam, there is nothing wrong with the account.” Not believing this, the manager counted and again counted the money and said to herself, “It’s so weird. There was really 100 yuan missing just now; how could …” Hearing these words, Ou Yang knew clearly that it was God’s wonderful deed. Then she silently offered her thanks and praise to God: O God! Thank You for Your mercy. You have not dealt with me according to my misdeeds and just used this thing to remind me to be honest. Since I deal with money every day, if not for this circumstance, I would pocket 10 yuan tomorrow and more in the future; with my tentacles of sin crawling further and further out, I would completely lose my conscience and dignity, and in the end be detested and rejected by You. At that time, Ou Yang suddenly thought of a line of God’s words: “I have even shown you the flames of heaven but I have not had the heart to burn you….” Ou Yang felt God’s unoffendable disposition and even more felt His love: God likes an honest man and hates people’s greed and deceitfulness, because He is faithful; He arranged this kind of environment to guide me into entering the truth of being honest.

    Later, Ou Yang told the manager that she hadn’t paid for the combo, and then she made up for it. After experiencing this matter, Ou Yang was willing to practice being an honest person and accept God’s observation when collecting money; from then on, she never pocketed money again.

There Is a Great Significance in Honesty

    Before long, Ou Yang had another special experience. One day, when checking the account, the manager found there was 76 yuan extra and asked Ou Yang how it came. Ou Yang said, “I don’t know.” “There must be something wrong,” said the manager. “Did you forget to print the receipt? Think about it carefully. You know, if you can’t explain this, according to the rules and regulations of the company, you would be fined 76 yuan.” Hearing these words, Ou Yang felt terrible and thought: I have made out receipt for every transaction without a single miss; how can there be extra money? Then she silently prayed to God, “O God! You allowed me to encounter such a situation and I believe there are lessons I should learn from it. The manager suspects that I forgot to make out the receipt; although I feel terrible, I don’t want to justify myself. I’m willing to obey this environment and seek and understand Your will. May You enlighten and lead me!” After praying, Ou Yang said to the manager, “Madam, I can’t explain this now. Please give me a night to think about it, and I’ll give you the answer tomorrow.”

    After returning home, Ou Yang racked her brain but couldn’t figure out why there was extra money. If she couldn’t give the manager a reasonable explanation, she would have to accept the punishment. At the thought of this, she felt wronged: It’s not easy for me to earn money and now I even have to pay for the mistake I didn’t make with my miserable salary. How about telling the manager I forgot to print the receipt when a costumer bought a combo? In this way I don’t have to suffer the punishment. At this thought, Ou Yang made up her mind to do so the next day. However, she felt uneasy at that time and thought of one word from the Lord Jesus: “Truly I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Then she thought of God’s words: “To be saved, we must first of all be honest in accordance with the words and requirements of God … What does it mean to ‘seek the way of the light’? It means seeking the truth in order to resolve your corrupt disposition, which is to say, when you lay yourself bare, you’re also dissecting yourself, after which you should seek: ‘Why do I have to do this? What do I gain when I do this? By doing this, am I sinning against God? By doing this, am I deceiving God? If it deceives God, then I shouldn’t do this; I should act by another means—and what means should that be? I should look at what God requires, at what God says, what the truth says.’ This is seeking the way of the light.” “Honesty means to give your heart to God; never to play Him false in anything; to be open with Him in all things, never hiding the truth; never to do that which deceives those above and deludes those below; and never to do that which merely ingratiates yourself with God. In short, to be honest is to refrain from impurity in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man.” From these words, Ou Yang better understood the importance of being honest: Only an honest person is the likeness of a real man; only an honest person can please God; and only an honest person can enter God’s kingdom. Then she thought: Though knowing clearly that God loves honest people and that He inspects people’s hearts, I still want to tell a bare-faced lie and deceive others just for 76 yuan; I am so despicable. In quest of my own personal benefit, I nearly lost my conscience and rationality. Isn’t it rebelling against and resisting God to brazenly deceive others? In the beginning, the serpent used rumors to deceive Eve into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and betraying God; isn’t my misdeed just like that of the ancient serpent? I’m really not worthy of being called a man. At that time, Ou Yang felt disgust and hatred toward her previous thoughts, and she made her resolution to be an honest person. From God’s words, Ou Yang also knew that an honest person is someone who speaks and acts sincerely and does not lie—he calls a spade a spade. Ou Yang was willing to turn her back on her wrong motivations and tell the truth to the manager.

The Honest Person Has God’s Blessing

    When Ou Yang went to work the next day, she told the manager, “Madam, I can’t explain the 76 yuan. I really don’t know how this happened.” After telling the truth, she felt very secure in her heart and no longer worried that the manager would punish her. Unexpectedly, the manager said, “I see. Let’s talk about it later.” During the shift change, one of Ou Yang’s colleagues suddenly asked her, “Ou Yang, yesterday I gave you 100 yuan to buy a 24 yuan combo, but you didn’t give me my change, did you?” Hearing this, Ou Yang patted herself on the head and said, smiling, “Oh, turns out that the extra 76 yuan is yours. The truth has finally come out.” Then she opened the drawer and handed 76 yuan to her colleague. At that time, Ou Yang felt overwhelmed with emotion: It is so great to be an honest person. Only an honest person who is open and magnanimous can live justly and honorably, and only an honest person has dignity. If I had lied before, others, after hearing the colleague’s words, would all know that I had cheated them. Then they would despise me, spit at me, and no longer trust me, and I would have no integrity. Moreover, as God detests people telling lies and deceiving others, I would end up being disapproved by God and abhorred by others. Fortunately, God led me and protected me in time. Thanks be to God!

    One day, a month later, Ou Yang learned that a cashier of another branch store didn’t make out the receipt when collecting money. Having known this, the manager checked the security tape and discovered that the cashier secretly pocketed 1,000 yuan through not making out receipt. Finally, the company dismissed her, docked all her salary, and blacklisted her; the company even made an announcement so that all the staff knew what the cashier did; the cashier was thoroughly discredited. Hearing this news, Ou Yang couldn’t help feeling kind of terrified: If it weren’t for God’s guidance and protection, and if I hadn’t practiced being an honest person according to God’s words, I would be in the same situation as she. At that time, Ou Yang could better understand that God’s requirement of man is His love and is for man to have conscience and humanity. Thinking of this, she thanked God from the bottom of her heart.

    Before long, because of some family stuff, she was going to quit the job. When she told her manager about this, the manager did her best to try to keep Ou Yang, “Ou Yang, could you not resign? I feel at ease to have you being the cashier here.” Seeing the manager trust her so much, Ou Yang was deeply moved and kept offering thanks and praise to God in her heart, for she knew that, without the guidance of God’s words, she wouldn’t have sought to be an honest person under this circumstance and wouldn’t have gained others’ trust. All of this is God’s salvation to her. At that moment, Ou Yang felt that it is the correct path of life to be an honest person, who can live with integrity and dignity, and can be welcomed by people everywhere and blessed by God.

Recommendation: Eastern Lightning | The Church of Almighty God was founded by Almighty God personally