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Challenge.04
Sometimes it's hard to show mercy to people we work with. Bring donuts or bagels (or a snack of choice) to your office anonymously or buy coffee for a co-worker you don't always get along with.

Response.01 - Shannon L.

A day to bring donuts? Monday morning it is. I chose this day because everyone hates Mondays. Maybe some sugar would cheer up the worker bees in my office. Bringing donuts is not too much of a surprise to them since many of my other coworkers voluntarily bring food in to share. It’s almost on a weekly basis this happens.

They’re all very nice people.

I’m constantly amazed at the efforts they put into what they deem to be meaningful things in life. I have a coworker who is a "big brother" to some needy teen. I have a coworker who goes to church every Sunday. I have a coworker who has been in a committed relationship with her partner for over 15 years. I have a coworker who is a vegetarian. I have a coworker who loves to do volunteer work. I have a coworker who works around the clock to make our company successful. I have a coworker who believes The Secret was the best thing ever and lives by it.

Though some seemingly have it all together on the outside and some don’t, they all invest heavily into something. Something or someone that will give them greater meaning in life. I look at them and immediately feel some sense of self-righteouness. Because you know what? I have God so I’m already a step ahead of them. I don’t even need to do the things they do to love my life. Yet I do them anyway.

But honestly...what short lived satisfaction does that really give me? I’m merely using God as a tool to boost my own ego. In that process, His power and who He is in my life is completely demeaned. I take the plank out of my eye, I take a closer look...and what I see is brokenness. A desperation. A cry in their eyes to know and to be known. When I see that in them, in my coworkers, my heart breaks and I hurt. I get only a miniscule glimpse of what God is feeling for them.

As I move out of feeling and into action, I contemplate on how I can show mercy. The sad thing is...I don’t even know where to begin. Do I bring more donuts? How is that different from what they do? Clearly, I’m confusing mercy with being just plain nice.

How do I be radical in the way Jesus showed mercy to the healthy, the rich and the more fortunate?

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