A look at intent...

My first piece of mail in 2010 was a notification from the Department of Real Estate informing me that I had to update my license in order to be compliant with a new law. Having heard from another licensee that the process was nominally painless, I finally mustered up the strength and went online to complete the form.

After entering in my basic information (name, SSN, license number, etc) it asked me to identify which kind of real estate business I had participated in. I thought it interesting that one of the options was "Sell or offer to sell, buy or offer to buy or exchange notes secured by real estate." Selling, buying, and exchanging notes is not eye catching, but the "offer to" part was.

It seems that the DRE looks at action that same way God does, by measuring your intent. In Matthew 6:21-22 Jesus says:

You have heard that the ancients were told, "You shall not commit murder" and "Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court." But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, "You good-for-nothing," shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, "You fool," shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

It doesn't seem fair that anger would be comparable to murder until you realize that they are just different results of planting the same seed. Take a moment to look at your actions and the motivation behind them. You might be surprised at what you see.