Money, Time, or Relationship?

 So, today I went to see the movie, “Million Dollar Arm.”  I was pleasantly surprised…pretty good stuff!  I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, so I won’t go into great detail about it.  What I did like about it was that they filmed part of it in India and the rest of it in the US.  India is a place that I hope to visit one day so this movie really touched my heart.

The point of the movie was to get a couple of cricket players from India, convert them to Major League Ball Players and make a ton of money in the process.  Now, everything was based on a business plan…they had X amount of dollars and X amount of time to make this whole thing work.  All was going well until the big day for a Major League tryout for the 2 Indian fellows.  Unfortunately, they failed at attaining positions in the Major League.  Now it’s not because they didn’t have the ability, it was because of the way everything was handled.  The young men were basically handled like a commodity instead of human beings.  It was business for the Americans, just business!  Luckily, someone spoke up and informed the main guy that he handled the entire situation in the wrong way.  At that point, he corrected himself and truly took the time to get to know the players and so on.

I see so much of this that goes on everywhere here in the US.  Everything is about money and numbers.  How often do we actually stop and take the time to get to know somebody we come into contact with on a regular basis?  So often, whether it’s in business, our neighborhoods, schools, or even in church, we are in such a big hurry that we get “whatever it is we need,” and move on.  The quicker the better because you know, time is money and money is time…and heaven forbid that someone be seen speaking to someone “outside of their social status!!”  I’m SO tired of this way of life!!  We’re all human.  We all have struggles. We all have only 24 hours a day.  We all have to breathe the same air.  We all will exit this earth some day. 

How many people do you come in contact with on a regular basis that you can truly say you don’t even know their names, let alone whether or not they’re married, single, have children or other details of their lives? 

As followers of Christ, we should strive to know and care more about others.  It’s those interpersonal relationships that are so very important.  It let’s folks know that we truly care about them.  It would be easy for me to go to Wal-Mart, Starbucks or any place for that matter, go in get what I need, and not speak a word to anyone.  Get my business done and get out of there…after all…we’re all in a big hurry to get nowhere…right?  I wonder though…is that how Jesus handled things in His day?  No, I don’t believe it was. There are times when Jesus was headed from point A to point B and someone would cry out to Him.  Many of the miracles He did were in those times where He stopped on His way from A to B.  He took time out for people. As Christ followers, we should too!

A Christ follower = Love God, love people.  Take the time to get to know others.  If you’re a follower of Christ and you’re not sharing the love of God, what good are you to the Kingdom?  That doesn’t necessarily mean preaching Jesus everywhere you go.  It does mean to let the light and love of Jesus flow through you to others.  Jesus didn’t have a second thought about giving up His life on the cross for each and every one of us.  The least we could do is slow down a bit and take the time to get to know the people who cross our paths on a regular basis.  You never know, you may be the only way someone will ever get to experience the love of Christ.

Be led by the Spirit.  He is with us always, but do we always listen to what He’s guiding us to do?  I assure you, if you take to the time to get to know others by the guiding of the Holy Spirit, life will never be boring!  Just last week a woman approached me in Starbucks.  Apparently she recognized me because I’m a regular there.  She was drawn to me…or I should say, she was drawn to Jesus in me…whether she realizes this or not. J  She invited me to sit and visit with her and her friends any time.  Instantly I thought, “there’s no better time than now.”  So, I joined her and her friends.  Sure there was a little awkwardness, but I just pretended that I was comfortable until I was comfortable.  Now, none of us will ever have a second thought about visiting and getting to know each other when we see one another.  It would have been easy for me to brush off the invite.  I didn’t know this woman from Adam!  But…what if that moment was the only chance I had for the door to be open to them?  To me, eternity in heaven is too important to have turned down a moment like this.  God is all about people, and we should be, too!  

Take the time to get to know those in your world no matter how big or small your world is.  You won’t regret it!  Hopefully, when we get to heaven, we’ll be surprised at the folks who are there because we took the time for relationship here.