Rude treatment of those in public service is an example of how we believers often present a negative witness to others of what it means to be a Christian—a "little Christ."
Suppose a particular waitress overhears the people at her assigned table talking. They seem so happy and carefree, so genuinely excited about this person they are discussing, she asks herself, "Whom are they talking about?"
She listens more closely and this time she decides, "Oh, these people are talking about Jesus. I wonder if they know Him personally."
So, she makes a mental note that for the next hour she will keep in close contact with these folks who claim to be representatives of the Living Lord.
She notices a closeness and a love between them and so she asks herself, "Is this the way Jesus-people treat each other? That's wonderful." She also notices, however, that as she approaches the table to take their orders they refuse to make eye contact with her.
Then as they give her their individual orders, they are self-centered and flippant in their attitude, seeming to care nothing for the difficulty they are causing her by their lack of order and sensitivity. She can only assume that this is the way Jesus Himself must act.
Later, when she returns with their food, she catches part of their conversation: "Church sure was good today." "The Lord had really been blessing me lately." "Oh, hallelujah, God is so good."
She thinks how lonely and how frustrated she has been lately, having to deal with the problems in her life all alone. Yet these people seem to pay no mind to her at all as they proudly and piously "praise the Lord" for all their blessings before hurriedly digging in to enjoy their meal.
Again she assumes that this selfishness and indifference is also Jesus' attitude.
She is still wondering about some of the remarks she overhears the people make, when she suddenly realizes one of them is speaking to her in a very patronizing and condescending manner.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir," she replies in haste, "my mistake. Did you want something?" Noting his sharply worded request, she hurries off to the kitchen to fill his order. As she does, she thinks to herself, "So this is what Jesus Christ is like."
As she pours their after-dinner coffee, she notices how freely they laugh and joke among themselves, but she can't help but notice also their seeming unwillingness to share the source of that laughter and joy with her.
As they get up to go, in their preoccupation with their own interests and concerns, they do not even acknowledge her presence—much less the service she has rendered them.
While busily cleaning up the mess they left on the table, she discovers that one of them had left a tract entitled "The Four Spiritual Laws." The tract is weighed down with a bright, shiny new quarter—her tip.
Silently passing off the whole experience with a shrug of the shoulder, she drops the quarter into her apron pocket and the tract into the nearest trashcan. The affair is quickly wiped from her memory just as she wipes away from the tablecloth the crumbs left behind by these "representatives" of the Son of God.
The incident is soon forgotten, but unfortunately the impression remains for a long, long time.
Jesus pleads with His followers to be good representatives of Him. He reminds them: "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?..." (Matt. 5:13).
When the world stops and looks and ponders, it is the dispositions and the corresponding actions of those who claim to be "Christ-like," those who bear the name "Christians," which will determine the answer to the question, "Is this Jesus?"
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers