When I started to work in the real estate industry, I encountered some difficult property agents and uncommon deals. My wife said that God was giving me accelerated training in such a short span of time to handle various difficult issues.
In one of the deals, I met an unscrupulous Christian agent. I have never met anyone like him before. By far, he's still the champion when it comes to manipulation, staging and dishonesty. A non-Christian will easily have a much greater level of conscience than this man. But I know that God sees him righteous as His son. It is him who doesn't know. I remember challenging him on his method, "What do you think as a Christian?"
He was so unethical that I decided to give up the entire deal and lose a huge sum of money where I could pamper my wife and my son with over Christmas period. I was going to close the deal for sure. But I decided to get my hands off the deal and let him take over my buyer directly. I know that if I were to report him to the authorities, he would be in serious trouble. But my buyer (a friend) would also end up with legal issues.
In the midst of all these, a female seller (who is also a property agent) had been following up with me as my buyer was also interested with her unit under the same development. When my buyer bought another unit at a radically low price (orchestrated by the unethical Christian property agent), this female agent was very upset. The low transacted price greatly affected her unit's possible selling price. Despite much explanations, she was fuming. She threatened me, accused me countless of times, and decided that she would report me to the authorities. Being new to the industry, I did not fully understand the implication. I only know that by the grace of God, I have held my integrity and walk uprightly. I could have easily cooperated with the unethical Christian agent and earned a huge sum of money without breaking the law legally.
Christian businessmen: What is legal does not mean it is biblical. There will be loopholes in the legal area. But there is no loophole in the biblical area.
Christian agents: You don't have to follow the methods of top producers and top trainers to earn alot of money or even set breaking records for sellers, if you are doing the dishonest way. Yes, a seller may think you are extremely capable to fetch high price for him. But a white lie is still a lie. Earn it with peace within - that will give God the true glory.
Thus, I spoke to a lawyer and was thankful that I would be charged as innocent even if the female agent were to report me to the authorities. However, over a period of few months, she continued to accuse me and give verbal abuses. In the midst of these, I actually shared Jesus with her. She was wondering why I wasn't afraid.
Eventually, she began to pour out her troubles and problems with me concerning her family. Well, my wife knows this. For a short few months, she didn't contact me. One day, she contacted me and told me that she just recovered from depression and was discharged from hospital. You never know why some people respond in such a negative way. There is a root issue of identity - not knowing who she is.
I continued to share Jesus and prayed for her. She began to visit a church (without me inviting) and came to know Jesus! Today, I just received a photo of her and her family in their church camp. She said, "I'm learning from the Bible."
Your test can become a testimony when you choose Jesus. Todd White said, "Don't let sin against you become sin in you." That is so so true. Jesus is so good! #salvation
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