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.

"You're 'Emily'?? .....Okay"

It was my first day on the job, my very first "Dash". I was instructed by the app to get 4 Starbucks coffees, and take them to Value City, delivering to an "Emily". I received a very cursory training (we watched a video) and no riding with anyone else to get the idea first, so I was on my own on just what to do.

This turned out to be a more in-depth order than usual. Not only was I still getting used to how the app worked, and still getting used to using the route-finder, but I had to stand in line and order the coffees, rather than just pick up the order.  This involved reading the order closely for the choices, and just winging it on some things that were not marked.

The route finder proved to be interesting during delivery, leading me in by some back way with alleys and one-way streets. When I found it, and went in with the coffees, a large guard by the front door said to me, "Are they already paid for?  Yeah - that's me."

I looked at him and said, "You're 'Emily'??"   The only thing *I* had instructions to do at that point was "deliver" them, so I shrugged and said, "Okay..."  and started to set them on his desk.  Fortunately, he laughed at that point and told me where the customer service desk was at - where I could find the real Emily.

Sometimes, we are too ready to accept an impostor. We see a satirical news story or a hoax, and it sounds so good that we forward it without doing due diligence to check the facts first. We hear someone is sick or hurt, and we jump right to praying for them - or more - before we find out the whole story is faked or outdated.

But the worst thing we can end up accepting is a false gospel. Paul stated in Galatians 1:8, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed." In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul expressed concern that the Corinthian Christians could be so easily led astray ... that when someone brought them a teaching that was different from that which they received, they easily went along with it (vs. 4). I fear that many go away from "crusades for Christ" and tent meetings and modern day churches with an idea that they have the truth, when what they are actually clinging to is a complete falsehood.

I never want people to believe what I say simply because I am the preacher.  I want them to be like the Bereans of Acts 17 ... Luke said they were "more noble" than those in Thessalonica, because they searched the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was telling them was really the truth (Acts 17:11).  Don't believe something is true just because it sounds good .... look into the scriptures for yourself, and see if their teaching really is true.