Nice!

“I can only please one person a day and today isn’t your day. Tomorrow isn’t looking good either.”

Most of us have seen this phrase on signs and t-shirts. Yesterday, while at the post office, some guy with an arm load of gifts he was mailing….had it on his shirt. Around his neck and boldly standing out was a large crucifix and he had a smile from ear to ear.  I didn’t get the message he was trying to send.

I was going to ask him about all this but they make you stand in lines at the post office. Any form of line cutting was not permissible and punishable to the full extent of the law… especially at Christmas time. As I hurried with my postal errands, I saw him walk out the door. Running to catch him I was too late. He had gotten into his Black Ford Explorer and was pulling away. On his License plate it said…”WWJD”.

I don’t think he would have worn that shirt.

Some people have the mistaken notion that a Christian should be nothing but sweet, mild and nice. Nice guys do not have to finish last. They do not have to be like doormats, wallflower or tofu. Jesus was a nice guy… well maybe with one exception. The Temple incident was kind of not so nice but he didn’t lose his temper. When we lose our temper we lose control. Jesus did not lose control. This was a deliberate act with a specific meaning.

He turned over the tables, drove out those who were thieving and his message was this, don’t mess with my house. Don’t mess with my people. In particular, don’t do it in the name of religion. Those who came in the name of religion were the very ones deceiving the people. And Jesus says, I will not stand for it. He was sick and tired then, and he’s sick and tired now of people who come in the name of Christ, yet do not live according to that name.

Doing some research on this incident at the Temple, I found out this occurred on a Monday. That explains everything!!! Who can be nice on a Monday? I can relate to being sick and tired on a Monday.

Philippians 2:1-4 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than you. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

These verses speak volumes to me. I know that I don’t live this as well as I ought to live it. However, I know that this is true. It tells me how to view others. It tells me how to view you. It tells me how to view my family members. It tells me how to view people in the businesses around me and how to view people I run into in life. I have to esteem them as better than myself. That way, I’ll treat them with dignity and respect and won’t be treating them as less than myself.

How often have you felt treated as less than someone? It doesn’t make any of us feel good, does it? But when you’ve been treated well- better than you expected to be treated- how does that make you feel? Good, right?

There’s so much good we can do for others and that we need to do for others. It’s time for us to get out of ourselves and get out there doing, for others and for the household of faith.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and essayist, declared, “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

It’s ok to be a nice guy or gal. That’s how we make a difference in this world. It’s stated that our bodies are a temple and we need to overturn the tables, we need to represent ourselves as Christ has taught us. Being nice is good, letting others set our tables, not so good.

We need shirts that read… “I can please many people per day…today looks good for you. Tomorrow will take care of itself.”