At What Price
Something happened this week, and I felt compelled to share it. A friend and I were going to visit someone, and we didn't have a description of the house just the address plugged into the GPS on my friend's phone. We missed our driveway, so I turned around in the very next driveway and went back. There were three houses that all shared this particular drive, so while we were trying to decide which house we were looking for, a very angry looking woman came storming onto the property talking just as fast as she could into her cell phone.
In the meantime, my friend and I confirmed which house we were looking for and I parked the Jeep. The angry looking woman walked right up to my door, not leaving me enough room even to open the door without hitting her, so I rolled my window down. She proceeded to yell and cuss demanding what we had been doing in her mother-in-law's yard. May I stop right here and say that I never once veered from the drive; my wheels touched any grass.
Anyway, she wanted to know if we had gotten out and messed with anything, even though we had only been there long enough to turn around. This might be a good time to insert that while the mother-in-law's house was on one side of the three building drive, the angry woman's was on the opposite side, so she had not been able to see us turn around at all. I can only assume that was her mother-in-law on the phone.
The whole time I was repeatedly apologizing, the angry woman was threatening to call the police. All the while the person we were there to meet was standing on the front porch watching all this unfold. Finally, the angry woman left, no less angry, but at least she did leave.
The woman we were visiting apologized for the mean neighbor, and here comes the part that broke my heart. The very next words out of her mouth were, "Wasn't that a Christian shirt she was wearing?"
The angry woman had just closed off that woman's heart to Christians, closed her heart off to Jesus. She single handedly sacrificed the other woman's salvation, at least until another time. Was my turning around in her mother-in-law's driveway really worth someone's salvation? I can only pray that with time the angry woman's harsh, rash actions will fade.
So, here's my question for you. Our own salvation is precious to us, but at what price do you value someone else's salvation? At what price are you willing to sacrifice someone else's salvation?
Our words and actions have a profound effect on furthering God's kingdom or not, especially so when we are wearing Christian apparel or accessories. Be careful what you say and do, or you may learn the hard way at what price you would sacrifice someone else's salvation.
