EXTENDED SERVICE PLANS

It is said that integrity is what you do when others aren’t looking—or in some cases, listening.

My secular job involves providing customer service for those that have purchased (or will be purchasing) extended service plans on name brand household appliances. 

Because some people are more concerned about expressing their own agendas before hearing what the customer service representative needs to say, they wind up sinking their own ship.  If the people are in need of service on the appliance, they have to have it repaired first, at their expense, and then incur a 60 day wait until new coverage becomes active—without any reimbursement of repair costs.  When they learn that they cannot purchase a plan at the moment, and will have to pay for repair first, invariably they say, “Well, if I wouldn’t have told you I had a problem than it wouldn’t have mattered, right?”  Actually, it would have mattered.

The whole purpose of insurance of any kind is to help reduce the risk to some through the pooling of the resources of many.  If all we did was offer plans to people that knew they had problems, costs would be prohibitive.  Why should people regret not having had an opportunity to cheat others?  Where is the integrity in that—or for that matter, where is the peace?  In this case it only comes when we are as honest with others as we are with ourselves.  Cheating aside, anytime we do (or don’t do) something that we should (or should not) do, there is stress involved because it goes against the very nature of God that resides within us.  This, of course, is nothing new, as the Apostle Paul addressed it:

Romans 7:19--For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do (KJV).

The Apostle finishes Chapter 7 by asking who it is that will deliver him from being such a “wretched” person—and then he gives the answer—Jesus (And what He does is confirmed in Isaiah 9:6--For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace—bold mine).

David continues the psalm by thanking God for delivering him from the evil effects of the wicked, and any God that delivers the righteous from the wicked brings peace.

In typical David fashion, the psalmist concludes by thanking the Lord for future deliverance as well, based on past demonstration of that deliverance by God.

So, what have we learned?  We’ve learned that peace comes from trusting in God to deliver us as evidenced at other times in our life, and we’ve learned that integrity is the unseen fabric that makes up the garment of uprightness.  We’ve also learned that if you want to purchase an extended service plan on an appliance that is having issues, you may want to consider some sage advice given by King Solomon:

Prov. 17: [27] He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.  [28] Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

b(Les)sings

Psalm 26

New King James Version (NKJV)

A Psalm of David.

 ¹ Vindicate me, O LORD,
         For I have walked in my integrity.
         I have also trusted in the LORD;
         I shall not slip.
 ² Examine me, O LORD, and prove me;
         Try my mind and my heart.
 ³ For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
         And I have walked in Your truth.
 ⁴ I have not sat with idolatrous mortals,
         Nor will I go in with hypocrites.
 ⁵ I have hated the assembly of evildoers,
         And will not sit with the wicked.
  
 ⁶ I will wash my hands in innocence;
         So I will go about Your altar, O LORD,
 ⁷ That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,
         And tell of all Your wondrous works.
 ⁸ LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house,
         And the place where Your glory dwells.
  
 ⁹ Do not gather my soul with sinners,
         Nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
 ¹⁰ In whose hands is a sinister scheme,
         And whose right hand is full of bribes.
  
 ¹¹ But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
         Redeem me and be merciful to me.
 ¹² My foot stands in an even place;
         In the congregations I will bless the LORD.