Jacob - scam artist of old

Get something for nothing. What’s wrong with that? Well, it just doesn’t work. There are some laws which are as old as humankind, and one of them bears repeating: There is nothing free in the world.

One of the first case studies in scams is found in Genesis. Two sons, twins, were born to Isaac and Rebekah. These fraternal twins were about as different as daylight and darkness. One was an outdoorsman; the other an entrepreneur wheeler-and-dealer. Jacob’s name meant “deceiver”, and he lived up to the suggestion of his name. In time he deceived his father and cheated his brother out of his birthright. Yes, he got something for nothing.

But he also got more than he anticipated. His deception drove him from his home, and he lived as a fugitive for fourteen years. When he was finally about to meet his brother, he feared for his life.

Yet we aren’t so unlike Jacob: our old natures want something for nothing. We tolerate the disrespect of the scam provided the money is enough. Yet there is satisfaction in knowing that your labors produced honest rewards, that you had the satisfaction of creating something, and that you earned your keep and didn’t live off the fat of another man’s herd.

While Jacob was a “scam artist,” he eventually had his day of reckoning when he went one-on-one with God, repented, and did an about-face. When God touched him, he bore a mark – a limp that he lived with for the rest of his life. But when God touched him, He also changed Jacob’s name to Israel.

The scam artist is never beyond the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit or the hand of God, which arrests the wrong-doer and turns him around.

Today Counts is available in bookstores nationwide. For more information, write to Guidelines Philippines, Box 4000, Makati; email box4000 @guidelines.org; website www. guidelines.org.