I hate Walmart. I hate the crowds. I hate the fact that there are forty check-out lines and only three are open. I hate that people think it’s ok to shop in their pajamas there. I hate the insincere greeters. I hate that the parking lot is full even in the middle of the night. I hate Walmart!
I also hate hipsters, so it is no surprise that when you combine the two, you achieve a perfect storm of loathing. Such were the conditions when I pulled into Walmart last week. After navigating the slalom of double parked cars at the entrance, I discovered a car pulling out a really good parking space. I put on my blinker, waited patiently for the other car to back out, and began to pull into the spot. As I am halfway in, I am forced to slam on the break as this hipster walks directly in front of mycar! (although, you do have to question his hipster cred since he was headed into Walmart) I couldn’t believe it. Maybe if he wasn’t wearing his white, oversized, Elton John sunglasses, he would have seen me coming. But no, he didn’t even look, convinced that the world should simply stop for his hipness. Made me want reach out and choke him by the ironic scarf he was wearing over his shiny, fish scale, silver t-shirt!!!!! Instead, I rolled down my window, and with all the love and compassion a pastor should have in his heart, I called him a douche bag. (“called” isn’t quite accurate. “screamed” would be more appropriate. It was zealous enough to get him to hurry on in to the Walmart.)
Ahhhhh, yes! Another proud moment in my career! Let’s take a few moments and bask in my complete hypocrisy! Way to represent, whoot, whoot! I’m sure that’s exactly how Jesus would have handled the situation. Guy walks in front of you in the parking lot and you have the right to shout out the window that he’s a “D”. In case you are missing out on the dripping sarcasm, I recognize that I screwed up. Name calling is not good, especially when you publically state on a regular basis that we need to love everyone. I feel sorry now. But it took awhile.
See, I was right. He was being a douche! He almost caused an accident because he was so presumptuous. Trust me, he knew I was pulling in that spot. He saw the car moving. He just didn’t care. He had the “I’m the most important person in the world and everyone will stop for me” attitude that inflicts so, so many people that shop at Walmart. He deserved to have someone call him on it! That’s what made me right. He deserved it. At least, that was my justification.
Here’s the problem: being a follower of Jesus is about the complete opposite of getting what you deserve. That’s the essential definition of grace. If God were to give me what I deserve, I would be in huge trouble. I deserve far worse than name calling. I deserve judgment. But because of Jesus, I get to skip that. I receive love and mercy instead. If that is the case, shouldn’t I be willing to extend the same to those around me? Yep, I should. That was why I was so wrong the other day, because I gave what I though was deserved rather than responding in the same way that Jesus treated me.
So I guess the challenge for me is this: am I going to extend the same grace that I have been given or am I going to be the type of hypocrite that Jesus did call names? (Matthew 23:13) I don’t want Jesus to call me names. So I will focus more on giving people grace and less on judging what they deserve. How about you?
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