What If

Short and sweet. What if—when we met someone (anyone, any time, friend or stranger) we didn’t say just “good morning”, “hi”, “hello” or any of the normal greetings we terminally offer? What if—we upped the ante just a bit and stepped out of the box, the routine, the normal? In fact, what if we step up the game in a big way? Try this and catch the looks!

“Good morning, Child of God”

“Pleased to meet you, Child of God”

“Welcome, Child of God”

Etc.

There would be looks of surprise. There would be looks of shock. There would be looks of wonder. Yes, there would be plenty of looks. There would be acceptance of this weird new way of greeting, and, yes, there would be rejection.

Jesus looked upon everybody as a Child of God. We are told throughout the bible that we all are God’s children. If we accept that and act in such a manner that we recognize everyone as a one of God’s precious children, why not change our manner of greeting them or responding to them? That’s just bold! But, through that new and unusual method of greeting, couldn’t our hearts and behavior, in time, change—perhaps more than we could envision? Who knows, perhaps the hearts of the recipients might also change because of those three added words at the end of our greetings?

Perhaps when Jesus said “feed my sheep” to Simon Peter, it was a message that we could take more than literally. I think we forget that sheep are always hungry. Some just don’t know it yet, and those three words, along with some occasional unexpected kindness could possibly awaken those sheep and begin their feeding process for the Lord.

  

Encouraging Words:  John 21:15-19