The Kid At The 7-11 & Loving God By Loving Others
- christopherwschind
- Jan 31, 2023
- 5 min read
I WALKED IN, GOT MY STUFF, AND GOT IN LINE
Years ago, I walked into a 7-11 around lunch time.
I can't recall what exactly I was there to purchase (probably lunch, since it was, as I stated, lunch time), but I grabbed some items and headed to the checkout to pay for my stuff.
At the head of the line was a young man who had ridden to the establishment on his bike; he was probably about 14-years old.
Directly behind him was a pretty average looking dude, probably about 25-30 years-old.
And behind him was me, so I got to see the next sequence of events unfold firsthand and very clearly.
DECLINE
The young man at the front placed a four-pack of frozen sliders on the counter and the chashier scanned them.
$4.99 (or these days, adjusting for inflation, $16.47)
The clerk told him his total, and the kid pulled out a debit card. He then confidently swiped it (we didn't have "tapping" or "inserting" your card back in the primitive days of the early 2000's when we rode dinosaurs to work).
The young man waited for a second before the card-reader delivered an absolutely devastating message:
"DECLINE"
CRUSHING DEFEAT
I titled this section "Crushing Defeat" because that's the most precise description of what I saw on this kid's face.
He was unequivocally shattered.
His eyes widened, his mouth was slightly agape, he gasped a bit, his shoulders shrunk downward, and he visibly sulked forward. I felt that, truly. I'd been there, and I'd be there many times later.
His card had been declined, in front of others no less, and based on the run-down condition of his bike and his clothes, this wasn't the first time this had happened.
Didn't matter. Dude in front of me had an instantaneous plan and...
HE. STEPPED. UP.
AN ACT OF UNCONDITIONAL KINDNESS
Without hesitation, the man in front of me leaned forward and offered his card.
"APPROVED"
This kid's face lit up into a state of joy that I genuinely cannot describe.
That young man was happier than the current description of the word "happy" allows me to adequately detail.
Mouth agape, this time in a giant smile; eyes widened, this time in incredulous joy; he simply said...
...nothing.
He was so shocked that a complete and total stranger would pay for his lunch, a formerly declined lunch, that he was rendered speechless. Said stranger just smirked and muttered "No man should have to go without his sliders." The young man eventually clasped a hand with this guy and brought him in, hugging him with one of the most sincere, tight-lipped, eyes-closed smiles I'd ever seen. I was almost convinced this kid was fighting tears. I sure was.
He thanked the man, walked out to his beat-up old bike, and rode off with his donated trophy of four-pack sliders. The guy made his quick purchase (as the cashier beamed a smile), silently walked out as though nothing had happened, got into his car, and left.
As I laid my items across the counter, the cashier began scanning them and, still beaming, simply said, "That was awesome."
LOVE GOD BY LOVING OTHERS
I've said this many times before.
The two greatest commandments are "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matthew 22: 37-39)
I believe this to be intrinsically linked with Matthew 25: 31-46, widely referred to as "The Sheep & The Goats" passage. Boiling all of it down to the main message of the passage, we are told "Truly I tell you, that which ye have done for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, ye have done for me."
Side-note: I hope all the "KJV-Only Bois" out there are sufficiently content with my usage of their preferred scriptural translation, which they have reliably informed me is THE ONLY translation in the entire history of humankind to get the Bible right.
You're welcome.
Anyhow, we can easily see that Jesus is instructing us to love God first and foremost.
However, he's also showing us the best way to love God: by loving others. And how do we love others? By serving them.
Love God by loving others. Love others by serving them. By serving others, we love them. And by serving them in love, we show our love to God. I call this the "Circle Of Love," and it's one of my favorite concepts that the Bible presents.
I would also state that it's one of the most inarguably important ideologies in the entire collection of Christian holy books.
EXECUTING THE "CIRCLE OF LOVE"
I have no idea if the guy ahead of me was a Believer. Perhaps he was influenced by Judeo-Christian values, but it's not like he prayed with the kid before he left.
That said: WOW, did he emulate PRECISELY what Christ was teaching in the passages I listed above.
When we think about serving others, we can tend to go pretty grandiose:
I have to start a Ministry in Africa. I need to apply $150,000 of debt to my life in order to become a pastor. I make butt-tons of money; I need to give $75,000 to charity. Sure, those are all very fine-and-well things to do if you're genuinely called by God to do them.
However, it's easy to forget that you can make a sincere difference in the lives of others and a significant advancement of The Gospel by serving in what may seem to be the most minuscule of ways:
Helping an old lady across a busy street. Giving an hour of your time to just listen to a friend who needs to vent about how much difficulty they're going through right now. Volunteering one day a week at a nonprofit. And yes: purchasing a pack of sliders for a kid whose card got declined.
I mean, just look at what Jesus lists as acts of loving service in the "Sheep & Goats" passage: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." (Matthew 25: 35-36)
Sorry "KJV-Only Bois." Went with the NIV on that one,
These are simple acts of kindness that you can execute to love God by loving others.
And, I should add, this is the pathway towards "The Inheritance, The Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." (Matthew 25:34)
Now that's not to say that I believe in a works-based Faith and/or Salvation, but rather shows how we as Christians should best be living.
And one core tenant of that lifestyle is, of course, as I've stated in excess here: loving God by loving others.
So...get out there and love God by loving others, Friends.
-Schindler
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