6 With what shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? So, he's asking the question about what pleases God - and then he suggests some religious expressions that could fulfill the requirements. But, here's a great takeaway from this passage - verse 8: 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
To walk in justice and to love mercy - oh, if we could really take hold of those principles. It's not how much we attend church or do religious things - yes, our worship is very important, but a true indication about our love of Christ is shown as we exhibit selflessness, as we lay down our lives for others just as Jesus laid down His life for us. And, each person - everyone...in the workplace, at our kids' school, in a store, or a restaurant, is someone to whom we can show the love of Christ, looking for ways to be merciful.
In 1st John chapter 4, we see how the love of Christ can powerfully work in and through our lives to each person with whom we come in contact daily:
9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
One of the real tests of our devotion to Christ is our generosity, and here's a so-called "pastor" who has failed the test, in a very public way. A receipt has surfaced on the Internet of a someone identified as a pastor attempting to get around a restaurant's gratuity policy for large parties. Here's the story, from the RELEVANT website:
A man who identifies himself as a "pastor" decided that the whole "gratuity" thing is stupid. Apparently, the restaurant that he and a party of 20 dined at adds an automatic 18% tip to a total bill (rumored here to be about $200). When the diner found that out, he asked to pay for everyone on separate checks, thinking he could dodge the restaurant's auto-gratuity policy. But, it didn't, and that's when the pastor decided this was a spiritual matter. He scratched out the 18% tip ($6.29) and wrote "I give God 10%. Why do you get 18," and then, to make his point perfectly clear, wrote a big "0" in the tip line. And then wrote "pastor" into his name, thus fulfilling his duty as a gentle shepherd instructing his flock on how to love a dark and needy world.OK, if you're going to try to drive home your weak point, don't put a clerical stamp on it. The lack of generosity demonstrated has actually become a focus of scorn and ridicule, apparently especially among atheists on the web. Contrast this pastor's receipt with one at a Red Robin restaurant recently, where the manager gave a pregnant couple a free meal and informed them by typing in "MOM 2 BEE GOOD LUC" on the receipt. I don't know the spiritual bent of this manager, but it can remind us that for the Christian, a simple act of kindness can make a huge difference in someone's life, and perhaps give you a chance to do ministry in a more extensive way.
Of course, who knows if this receipt was even real or if the person was really a pastor? Nevertheless, this can challenge our thinking...
Our generosity is one of the leading ways that we attract people to Christ, and the converse is true - if we demonstrate selfishness, we are not exalting God. One RELEVANT reader commented: "This is wrong on so many levels. Worked in a restaurant for a few years and when the heads went down to pray so did your tip...The best are the ones who leave a track [sic] and no tip."
Think about that next time your church group visits a restaurant. Now, there is some quantitative evidence: The Christian Post, in a story that reported on a restaurant waiter who received a tract rather than a tip, quoted a study conducted by Cornell University, showing that Christians tip among the highest of all studied, but at the same time had the lowest percentage of tips among those who were stingy.
According to Daily Finance magazine, Christians gave 17.3 percent to their server. The study found 13 percent of Christians left less than 15 percent which is the standard. The 13 percent was almost double that of any other belief.
Do we regard people who are in customer service as real people to whom we can show Christ's love? Reggie McNeal, in his book, Missional Renaissance, relates the story of a church that determined to pray for every waiter and waitress they came in contact with. He encourages people, before they bless their meal, to ask the server how they can ask God to bless him or hear. What a simple, but powerful witness that could open the door to more meaningful conversations. And, we are called to be sensitive to doors that God may open. And, we close those doors by our demonstrations of selfishness. Everyone - everyone - you come in a contact with is someone to whom you can demonstrate the love of Christ.
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