Old Testament
Proverbs 11:1-3
1 A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but accurate weights are his delight.
2 When pride comes, then comes shame, but with humility comes wisdom.
3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them.
New Testament
Luke 16:10-13
10 He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
11 If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12 If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”
Proverbs is blunt: dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord. The quiet corner-cutting, the padded invoice, the small deception no one will notice: these are not ‘business as usual’ in heaven. The God who loves truth is not indifferent to weights and measures, because lies always land somewhere in another person’s life.
Jesus presses integrity into the ordinary. Faithfulness in very little is faithfulness in much. If money can make us slippery, it can also train us. The question is not only what we gain, but what we become as our decisions repeat themselves, shaping the moral climate of a workplace or a town.
Luke names the rival master: μαμμωνᾶς, mammon. Not merely coins, but the promise wealth makes: security without God, status without love, power without service. Mammon is a master because it asks for our trust, and quietly punishes those who refuse to serve.
King Jesus, cleanse our dealings. Give to those who lead companies, charities, and cooperatives the courage to tell the truth when it costs. Make workplaces places of fairness, where contracts are honoured and wages are not delayed. And in us, form a steadiness that serves you in small things, so that our public life is not a performance but a witness.