Standing in line

I was standing in line the other day at the post office.  Mind you, its the  post office around lunch time in December.  People are in a hurry.  But at the same time there is a decent sized line that everyone there (with the same hectic type schedule) has to endure.  

You may not know this about me, but I am a self professed people watcher.  And I would say a pretty reflective one, meaning I usually come up with a reason for how people act.

This particular day, in this particular line, were your typical line stander-iners.  Here they are in no particular order...

The "I am busier than everyone else here" lady. (not always a lady, but this day it was)

The "You are going to do things my way" elderly man. 

The "I'm frustrated with you, old man" teller.

The patient but impatient person.

The mom with her hands full.

The me.

The lady who helped the mom with her hands full.

Many types of people but here's the lesson I learned...

I was very intent on analyzing the flaw of all the different people but was surprised by the good. How did people see me?  How would I be categorized in someone else's list?  The quiet judgmental looker on?  The truth is all people have the capacity to be good or bad as the world defines it.  I was looking at all the "bad" and found some "good."  And the also is when God looks at all those people outside of Christ's redemption, He sees the bad.  Christ sees the need for His vicarious atonement.  

I had the answer...and only smiled and said hello to the teller.  Whether people are good or bad in man's eyes, they are apart from God without Christ.  I am no longer apart from God because of Christ and said nothing, whose really bad here?

In Christ

Derrick