Honesty

 One thing I have learned working this job is that there are some people who have no qualms at all about lying. Customers lie: "Tip in cash."  DoorDash support agents lie: "I can not process any extra payment for this order." Dasher's lie: "This number is no longer connected once delivery is complete. Please call DoorDash with any problems with the order."  

One that can cause a lot of problems is when merchants lie.  And that happens fairly often. A merchant will say, "This order will take about ten more minutes."  Ten seems to be the standard time.  Then, twenty minutes later, you're still standing there waiting on it.  It can cause one to be quite annoyed.

What makes it even worse is, things would be so much better if they just told the truth.  It may sound awful to say, "It's going to be a half hour before we get this order out," but if they just were honest about it, the Dasher would unassign it.  This would be to everyone's benefit ... the Dasher is happy because he can move on to another order. The merchant now has the time to do the order well without a really annoyed Dasher standing around waiting. Another Dasher will be happy to get the order, and when they get there it will be much closer to being finished.   The customer may not be so happy about having to wait so long, but they are going to have to wait that long no matter who delivers the food. 

I had one place to deliver from, and it was my first place there.  This was pre-pandemic and the place was hopping!  It was a new place, and there was a party atmosphere. I came through the back door to get the delivery order.  A server told me it would be about 15 minutes.  Well ......  the next day, I had another order there, same server tells me 15 minutes.  I stopped her. "Yesterday you told me it was a 15 minute wait, and I didn't get out of here until 40.  SO, today do you really mean 15 minutes, or is it more like 40?" 

She blushed, and with a small guilty grin she said, "Welllll .... maybe more like 25....."   I thanked her and unassigned myself from the order.  No hard feelings at all, things happen. But be honest about it, don't lie! 

In Leviticus 19, when God is telling the people (through Moses) how to be holy, he says, "You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another." One of the Ten Commandments is "You shall not bear false witness." In Revelation 21, lying is equal with murder, stealing, and idolatry! All through the Bible the gravity of lying is brought to mind again and again - probably because then it was just as big a problem and just as widespread as it is now. May we all resolve to be better people, and put lying far behind us.  

What we have here is a failure to communicate...

Today I had a nice size delivery from an Asian bistro. I had some trouble communicating with the workers there, because they don't speak English very well. Better than I speak their native language I am sure, but still difficult to understand one another easily.

Then I took the food to the customer. He was also of Asian descent, and as I stood at the door, chattering away while handing him the various bags and explaining what was in them, to a completely blank face, I suddenly realized – this man doesn't understand a word I am saying!

It certainly wipes out any chance of communicating, doesn't it?

The apostles of Jesus could have faced a similar problem trying to get the gospel message out to everyone in the first century. There is no evidence that any of them knew more than, at MOST, two languages (and most would have only known one). Jesus had told them they would stay in Jerusalem until power came upon them, and then they would preach in all Judea and Samaria, and eventually to the “uttermost parts of the Earth”. Did they ever wonder how they were going to do that without knowing the languages?

We are told in Acts 2 about the Day of Pentecost following Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension. This would have been 50 days after his crucifixion. Jesus had specifically mentioned a “baptism [or immersion- VE] of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5), saying it would happen very soon after his ascension, though not exactly saying when. So one week after Jesus had ascended, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples (now Apostles) with a sound like rushing wind and an appearance like flames of fire above the heads of those on whom it fell.

Peter began to preach. At the time there would have been many visitors to Jerusalem because they would come for Passover and stay through Pentecost. Josephus gives an estimate of over 2.5 Million for Passover during the time of Nero – so it is not out of line to suggest one million in Jerusalem at the time of this occurrence, and tens of thousands close enough to witness it first-hand. Of those, Acts 2 records over a dozen different cultures of different languages.

Without the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues, this would have sounded like a great cacophony to some – and indeed, for those who did not listen for their own language, it did! But many, listening, did pick up that one of the speakers was speaking in their own language, so that the Word of God was made known in every tongue.

This gift of tongues is not seen today. There are many reports of such, but it is often either in a language that nobody has ever heard, or if it really is a known language it is spoken without an interpreter, expressly forbidden in the New Testament because nobody benefits. The true gift of tongues was always for edification, always in a real language, and always for the benefit of someone who did not understand the language of the speaker. People in the first century were told that one day this gift of speaking in tongues would cease (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Thank the Lord that he wants us to understand his message of love and forgiveness. Unlike my friend at the door not understanding my message about his food delivery, every person will have the opportunity to understand God's message about eternal life.