But no accounting is to be required from them for the silver given to them since they work with integrity. ~2 Kings 22:7
In the mid-1970s, I got my first job in sales. In addition to my getting a good product to sell and a territory to sell it in, I received a travel expense budget. My boss explained the procedures for reporting money I spent on the road. “Here’s the form you fill out when you get back,” he said, “and by the way, the Internal Revenue Service does not require receipts for expenses less than twenty-five dollars.”
In a few days, I was sitting on an airplane, headed for the west coast. I remember thinking, Let’s see. If I put a few, less-than-twenty-dollar expenses in my reports for money I don’t spend, this could add up. After all, I’m working night and day for this company, and I’m not getting paid for all this extra time.
Over the next few weeks, I discovered an interesting fact. And although this dawned on me a long time ago, it’s as fresh as if it had dashed across my mind last week. Here’s the truth: you are who you are when no one’s checking up on you.
Josiah the king had given his secretary Shaphan an assignment. The king had asked him to tell the high priest to take the donations that had been made at the temple and give them to the construction supervisors for parceling out to the workers. Then Josiah added an interesting postscript. He told Shaphan that the supervisors did not need to fill out expense reports. Josiah reminded his secretary that the supervisors didn’t need to account for the money because they “work with integrity” (v. 7).
The thing that ought to capture us about this story is the remarkable trust King Josiah placed in his supervisors. I wonder how the high priest told them that Josiah was not requiring any receipts for their expenditures. I wonder if any of these men were tempted to slip a few shekels in their waistbands when they discovered they weren’t going to be audited. I imagine he said to these managers, “Spend the money carefully, but don’t be concerned with keeping records. Our king trusts you, even when no one is checking up on you.”
Can you imagine how motivating this would have been to these supervisors? “Wow, the king trusts us with this money,” they may have said to one another. “How could we do anything but be trustworthy?”
There are lots of different ways to motivate your children to do the right thing when you’re not around. You can read them a list of consequences if they mess up. You can sit them down and interrogate them when they come home. Or you can tell them that you trust them to be honest, trustworthy, and faithful.
Which of these options do you suppose will get you the best results? I think so, too.