Reason #938
I went to grab a quick lunch today. My office is located at a really busy intersection, so getting across the street can be tricky. I drove a few streets down so that the traffic would be lighter. Unfortunately, a bush, or maybe a tree, a bush-tree, was blocking my view from on-coming traffic. I inched my car forward so that I could see around the bush-tree before pulling out. A car was coming, and swerved a little to keep from hitting the front of my car. They had plenty of time to adjust for my error, and keep in mind that this car was the only car coming. They had three empty lanes to move into. As they swerved around me, I put my car in reverse to back up. As clearly as she could, the driver stretched her arm across her entire front seat and made sure to hold up her middle finger so I could clearly see it as she drove by. I’m not one for using such rude and inappropriate gestures, but I thought to myself, “Really? I think you’re overacting a bit. I’m sure you’ve caused other people to be inconvenienced by your driving a time or two.” Now I’ve been known to suffer from a slight case of road rage, but I’ve never understood the benefit in acting this way. Honk your horn, that’s fine. But really, what do hand gestures help? And truth be told, how many of us wouldn’t be tempted to gesture right back and feel justified in doing so?
I prayed for her. I don’t normally think to do that, but I did today. And I prayed that she’d come to know Jesus so that she’d have a tender and kind heart. That her first reactions would not be so offensive but would be respectful. And I prayed that if she did know Jesus, if she was His follower, that her heart would be convicted and she’d be reminded that her actions are a direct reflection of Jesus. That she would be careful about how she choses to respond so that she wouldn’t keep other people from knowing Him.
I finally made it across the street and down to the restaurant for lunch. I waited in the drive-thru line, placed my order, and then drove around to the first window to pay. The cashier opened the window looking less than enthused. I handed her my cash, she collected my change, and she stuck her hand out the window to give me my money and receipt. I said, “thank you,” and waited for her to thank me in return and wish me a good day. She was silent, and her face was angry. I couldn’t tell if she was having a horrible day or just hated her job with a passion. I’ve got customer service skills ingrained into my being, and so I always notice the little things like that. I’ll admit that I was shocked because this is West Texas and everyone says “thank you” and “have a nice day.” She grabbed the window to slide it shut, and I said, “Have a great day!” As soon the words left my mouth, she slammed the window shut and I couldn’t believe how poorly she had acted. But I thought about how many times I’ve had a hard day at work. Some people are better at hiding their emotions than others, and I wondered how many people, if any, would complain to the manager about their experience and hope that she got a stern talking-to for behaving that way.
But I prayed for her, too. Clearly this girl needed something good to happen in her life today. And I prayed that if she knew the Lord, He’d turn her day around and encourage her. And if she didn’t know Him, I prayed that she would come to know Him so that even on the difficult days, she’d be able to feel His peace and joy. That whatever her circumstances were, the Lord would make Himself known and fill her with hopeful heart.
I pray every morning that the Lord would open my eyes. Today I saw anger. Anger in people I didn’t even know. I was shocked at how quickly they were to be rude and tacky, and I realized that this is how the world is. The world is not a happy place on its own. And really, it’s easy to be mad. It’s easy to let yourself get angry and take it out on the people around you. And as Christ followers, we’re just as guilty of behaving like the rest of the world more often than not. Because I know a lot of Christ followers who aren’t strangers to waving around their middle fingers. And I know plenty of Christ followers who would have told that little girl what for today and complained to her manager with hopes that she’d get punished for how she made them feel. But we can’t be upset with the world for being angry. The world doesn’t know any better. If you had no hope, no peace, and no joy, you’d probably be angry, too.
In Ezekiel 36 the Lord says, “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” A responsive heart. But we can’t respond to the world in the same way it responds to us. We’re working with stony hearts, and how will stony heart become tender hearts if both look the same? How will they know the difference between the two if we mimic them? We have to respond with the tender heart the Lord has given us. Even if we want to be stony, we choose differently so that they can see it. Because we want stony hearts will begin to fall under conviction so that they’d be willing to give it to the Lord in exchange for a tender, responsive heart.
People watch how we behave. Instead of returning the same response, we should pray. Pray that people would come to know Jesus and be His followers so that they’ll have tender, kind, compassionate hearts. Hearts that will mess up sometimes, but hearts that desire to do good more than anything. Can you imagine if we lived in a world like that? A world full of tender, responsive hearts? But there’s still time. Still time for a change, and as follower of Christ, let’s not only be the change, let’s pray for it.
#938 - For His tender, responsive heart.
"Light shines in the darkness for the godly. They are generous, compassionate, and righteous." - Psalm 112:4