Someone in our House Church, who previously had worked in the restaurant business, was telling our group the least favourite time for her staff to work was Sundays. She said, that the Christians that came to the restaurant were poor tippers and rude to the staff. I thought how sad. This week I was in Mark’s Work Wearhouse and I watched the lady in front of me treat the check out clerk with utter contempt. I could not believe how this well dressed person treated the cashier with rudeness. I remembered a short verse in 1 Peter that gives us a governing principle for all of our relationships. It says, in 1 Peter 2:17, “Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.” That pretty well covers all the people we meet in three commands: respect, love and reverence. Every relationship requires at a minimum either respect or love and reverence in the case of our relationship with God.
Do you have experiences of people treating you rudely? Any stories of random acts of kindness?
Do you think people are less respectful today than in the past?
I remember one time when we were travelling, we were taking a shuttle train. For reasons I can’t remember, I was feeling frustrated and grumpy and overwhelmed. There were no seats left on the shuttle, but a kind man offered me his seat. I clearly remember feeling my tension and frustration start to melt away, by just one simple and kind act. It doesn’t take much to (unknowingly) turn someone’s day around.