2nd Opinion: Unemployed righteous are tempted

And the highly skilled, unemployed righteous man was led by the spirit of corporate downsizing in a bad economy into the wilderness of unemployment to be tempted by the devil.

And after he had been unemployed several months of idle days and sleepless nights, he became broke, desperate and hungry to return to work.

Plus, his wife was after him.

And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are so highly skilled, command that your resume exaggerate your experience, to make you look even better.”

But he answered and said: “The unemployed righteous man will not stretch the truth but instead will trust the Lord to match his skill and talent to the best job available. For it is written, ‘Thou shalt not lie—even on a resume.’”

Then the devil took him to the Mecca of Permanent Employment and had him stand upon the highest pinnacle of the Temple of Government Service, and said: “If you are so highly skilled, float your resume with the Feds and throw yourself into the highest GS pay-level attainable, and never ever worry about unemployment again. For remember the Golden Rule, ‘The man who’s got the gold maketh the rules,’ and the Feds can print all the dough they want! More importantly, remember this axiom: ‘He who works for the Feds reclines forever in God’s pocket and never more doth he get laid off.’”

But the unemployed righteous man said: “On the other hand, patience is virtue, even in this rotten economy. The Lord said, ‘Seek and ye shall find,’ and I suppose that applies to finding the perfect job, the one he is preparing for me right now, be it in government service or out there in the real world.”

Again, the devil took him to a very high place—the C-Suite of an International Conglomerate (traded on the Big Board with an EPS of $4). He showed him all their products being distributed throughout the world and said, ‘All these gadgets I will give you to manage if you fall down and worship me, CEO of useless merchandise, the junk sold by the billions to countless millions on seven continents.’”

But the unemployed righteous man said to him, ‘Be gone, you nasty ol’ satanic CEO! For it is written, ‘Don’t worship EBITDA—Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amorti-zation! Worship instead the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Then the devil left him.

And behold, that very afternoon, a headhunter called with three leads on great jobs perfectly matched to his qualifications.

Rich Mussler is unemployed, desperate and yet perfectly willing to wait upon the Lord for the right job to come his way. He loosely based this essay on Matthew 4:1-11. He is a member of First Baptist Church in Lewisville.