Identification Required!

During the time I've been working with Doordash, I have met around 8-10 other dashers while working. I can usually tell within the first minute whether this person is going to be good (or has been at it awhile), or is never going to make it.  One man that I correctly identified as "never going to make it" told me he was making his last delivery right then. One lady came in the store without a smile, without her insulated bag, and dragging a toddler along by the hand behind her - she'll never make it. One young man merely GRUNTED at me when I said hello to him, and he did no better with the merchant.  He'll never make it.

One thing that has bothered me is that very few wear their shirts that were given to us.  I don't know why - they are nice shirts. Maybe they don't like red. I like the shirt, I'd wear a hat too if they gave us one, and I've asked several times for a magnet. I know if I can put a magnet on the car, I can park in questionable places, but people will know I am coming right back .... right now the only choice I have is to put my flashers on.  I've been told they don't have any at the Charlotte office - because dashers kept telling them they don't want one.

When I wear my Doordash shirt, I am immediately recognized the second I come through the door. If this is a merchant that has an agreement with Doordash, they can just hand me the food and I am on my way - no standing in line or anything. Other patrons who see me realize I am not some pushy customer; I am working. (Most) restaurants have an appreciation for us because without us, they would lose opportunities.

So I do not understand why some would not want to have that which would identify them with the job they are doing.

It applies to being a Christian as well.  There are those who want to say and act like Christians sometimes, but not at other times. They don't want to be identified as that by the world. I remember feeling hurt at one time when I was a child in public school - there were two others in the class I was in who said they were Christians, but I was the only one standing up for Christianity.  They remained silent.

In Revelation 7, there is a scene in which 144,000 virgin Jewish men have the mark of God placed on their foreheads. Likewise , in another chapter, the Beast has caused those who follow him to have an identifying mark placed on their hands or their forehead. Without getting too deeply into the symbolism, both chapters would have brought to mind for the readers Ezekiel 9, where in Ezekiel's vision, one priest is told to mark all those in Jerusalem who actually care about the idol worship with a mark on the forehead ... and then told divine executioners to follow along behind and slaughter without mercy all those who did not have the mark. The mark is a symbolic identification showing possession. Will we be owned by God, or the Beast?

I am reminded of the parable Jesus told as recorded in Matthew 22.  In Verses 1-14, he spoke of a wedding banquet.  The king had invited certain people, but when the good news reached them, they either just went off to their homes and businesses, while others seized the servants of the king and tortured and killed them. The king had their city destroyed and burned, and sent the invitation out to everyone else.  Of course this parable demonstrates what happened with Jerusalem - when the good news came to them through John, Jesus, and the followers of Jesus, they were tortured or ignored. As a result, Jerusalem was destroyed (AD 70) while the invitation had gone out to gather in all who would follow, Jew OR Gentile.

But in the last part of the parable, Jesus added this:  “11 But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”  The man did not have his clothes identifying him as part of the chosen. He had not "put on" Jesus. And as a result, he was cast out.

Do we have the mark?  Are we wearing the clothes? Food for thought.  

Instructions (not) Included

I read the order off the screen of my phone word for word for the girl behind the counter.

"Two shakes, and two sundaes ... oh, and let's see - there's a note here that says, 'Make sure to put napkins in the cups so nothing gets in them'."

I stopped, confused, and read the line several times again to myself.  Yes, that was what it said.  But what did it MEAN? I looked up at the food service worker.  "Soooo .... like, you want me to put napkins in the cups and then pour the shake over them.....??"

As tempted as I was to default back to my usual, "I'm just the deliverer!" I knew it wouldn't work this time. This time I was also the person receiving instructions and making the entire order. Which was why I was getting paid more.

"Um ..... you know what?  I have no idea what this customer is saying here.  Just forget the napkins thing." It must have been okay, because this customer seemed happy with his delivery. I thought it was odd - he lives a couple blocks away.  I would just walk. It would be faster and cheaper. But, it gives me a job, so...

Sometimes, I feel the same way with God's Word.  "I'm just the deliverer!"  And I am - but as with the food delivery job, I have to get it right. With my food delivery, if I get it wrong, the customer will be upset, I'll lose my tip, and with the current situation being that there are companies offering competition to us, we could lose that customer altogether.  But if I get God's Word delivery wrong, the stakes are so much higher!

James 3:1 (ESV) "Not many of you should become teachers ["deliverers"?], for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." One who is a teacher is always held to a higher standard. While I may not be the one who made God's laws, and am only the one "delivering" the word to others, I need to be constantly aware of the importance of getting it right, especially when souls are at stake.