Before anything else: God loves you the exact same amount when you win and when you lose. And on the day you make a mistake, too.
Imagine you're playing a board game with a friend, and you're losing. Then, the second they look away, you move your piece a few extra spaces.
In the end, you win.
But notice three things that happen after.
The first is that you know. That win doesn't land in your chest the way the others do, because deep down you know it wasn't really you who won.
The second is that, if your friend finds out, they won't want to play with you again. And playing alone is a lot less fun.
The third is the most important. Next game, you'll have to move the extra spaces again, because you never actually learned how to play for real.
Today's verse talks about grown-ups making money with lies, but it's the exact same thing. It piles up fast and it traps the person.
And there's a beautiful story in the Bible about this. A man named Zacchaeus made money by charging people more than he should, and people didn't like him at all. One day Jesus walked by, looked at him, and said: today I'm going to stay at your house.
Notice something: Jesus went to his house before he fixed anything. And that's exactly what made Zacchaeus want to fix it all. He gave back what he had taken, and even gave a lot more.
When someone loves you for real, it makes you want to do what's right.