Our family went to a nearby restaurant for lunch after church last Sunday. I was feeling pretty good about treating everyone, because I had a Groupon!
Have you gotten hooked up yet with any of the discount offers out there? These companies send emails letting you know of percent-off deals available in your area. You pay $10, for example, and get $25 worth of merchandise. The numbers and deals vary, but I enjoy looking over the selections, because I love a bargain!
Several of us ordered the Sunday special which was described on a separate printed sheet, apart from the regular menu. The package included the drink and a dessert. This was making my Groupon look even better!
The food was good. We ate amidst the usual passing-around-the-baby and picking up dropped crayons. It was fun. The bill came, the Groupon had been deducted, and the total confirmed that I had gotten a great deal.
Suddenly the server returned and reaching out his hand, said he had to take back the bill. His manager said he couldn't give us the Sunday-special price along with a Groupon. He had to charge us the full price of those meals in addition to charging for the desserts. What?!
Apparently it was one of those "can't be used in conjunction with another discount" situations, but the menu didn't say so. That had never occurred to any of us, including the server, because he knew we planned to use a Groupon before he took our order.
I began to protest.
"Did we know that?" I asked indignantly. "That's the fun of using a Groupon - to get the bargain." All of a sudden, I remembered Pastor Harvey's sermon from just a couple hours before. He spoke of blessing someone who is mistreating you.
Granted, I wasn't being persecuted for my faith, as was the case in the Scripture Harvey read. But the idea that our words will be more easily heard after people have seen our good deeds (AND good behavior) applied at that moment. What if that kid were to show up here at Faith Church next Sunday as a visitor, and see me, and recognize me as the person who had rudely chewed him out, demonstrating no Christ-like grace?
I told him I understood and simply dropped the matter, In fact, I left him an especially generous tip.
I'm too often concerned with "my rights" and making sure I'm not cheated in any way. But on Sunday, my response to an irritating situation was tempered by Harvey's admonition to show proper respect to everyone and to surprise the world around us with a blessing (I Peter 2:12).
There was something at stake here greater than my rights - God's reputation.
Have you experienced a time when you could have felt wronged, but were able to bless or serve someone instead? Tell us about it, please.
Pastor Steve gave each of us three pieces of paper, print on both sides. These were the prayer requests submitted Sunday morning on the Communications Cards. "I don't know if we can get through all of these," said Steve, "but let us spend the next 50 minutes praying."
