Confession vs. Hypocrisy

[133 words]

After hearing a sermon on confession, a man approached his preacher with a heavy conscience. He explained that he worked for a boat builder and stole expensive brass nails. The man could not tell the boat builder, he said, “Because he would lose his job and his boss would think him a hypocrite and all of the times I shared my faith with him will go to waste.” Finally, guilt got so bad he had to confess. He offered restitution. His boss responded: “I did think you were just a hypocrite, but now I begin to feel there’s something in this Christianity after all. Any religion that would make a dishonest workman come back and confess that he had been stealing copper nails and offer to settle for them must be worth having.”