Every time I go to Walmart, I am given a reminder of what we humans are really like. I turn to park my car and brake because someone has left a shopping cart in the parking spot and didn’t take the 30 seconds to return it to one of the cart stalls. I get a shopping cart and there is trash left in it…someone ate a food item and left their garbage in the cart for someone else to take care of. I get in the store, and I go down one of the aisles and someone has parked their shopping cart in the middle of the aisle and has walked away looking for something on their list. I go down another aisle and there are two friends, talking and have created a roadblock that no one can get by and are truly surprised when I ask if I could get by them. In another aisle, there is someone blocking a whole section while talking on their phone. Alright, I sound like a crabby old guy…but it pretty much always happens like that. I don’t really get mad at people but I am struck at how folks can walk through this little slice of life and be so self-absorbed that they take no thought of anyone else. And then I wonder how often I’m guilty of stuff like this…of thinking of me and my actions and my wants and am deaf and blind to everyone else around me. Jesus wasn’t like that…and still isn’t! In his ministry here on earth, he gave up so much for us, God who became flesh and lived a humble life of love and sacrifice for us culminating in his death on the cross for our sins. And he did that while we all were sinners! Those irritations at Walmart are a reminder to me that if I’m going to follow this Jesus of the Bible, I need to figure out how to live that out wherever I go. The Apostle Paul wrote the Philippian church and told them not to be selfish or to try to impress others. But to live humbly, thinking of others as better than themselves. Talk about something that goes against our natural instincts! He said for us as followers of Jesus to not look out for our interests only but to take an interest in others too. And to have that same attitude about people and life and love that Christ had. Jesus said in the Bible that there were two things that we needed to do and if we did these two things, that would pretty much cover everything in life. He said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind soul and strength…and love your neighbor as yourself. Remember that everyone is important to God…even people you don’t like. Remember when you go to Walmart, or anywhere else, that you are going to walk among people who God loves so very much…just like he loves you. You love them too and maybe somewhere along the line, the God of the
Bible will use that to draw them to his unfathomable love and kindness and life. You just never know what putting that shopping cart back where it belongs might lead! Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Philippians 2:3-8 NLT Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. (4) Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. (5) You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. (6) Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. (7) Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, (8) he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Remember I’m praying for you…
PJ
Bible will use that to draw them to his unfathomable love and kindness and life. You just never know what putting that shopping cart back where it belongs might lead! Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Philippians 2:3-8 NLT Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. (4) Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. (5) You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. (6) Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. (7) Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, (8) he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Remember I’m praying for you…
PJ