{"id":483,"date":"2010-08-09T04:00:54","date_gmt":"2010-08-09T10:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=483"},"modified":"2010-08-09T04:00:54","modified_gmt":"2010-08-09T10:00:54","slug":"bad-service-to-forgive-forget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=483","title":{"rendered":"Bad Service: To Forgive & Forget?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>“How was everything?” asked the waiter as we finished our staff luncheon at a new restaurant in town.\u00a0 “Fine,” was the standard reply from\u00a0those who managed\u00a0to get any words out.\u00a0 The others, not wanting to say what they really thought of the dining experience, filed out the door quietly.<\/p>\n

We had come to celebrate the calling of a new Student Pastor for our church.\u00a0 Having heard good things about this new Mexican restaurant that offered a luncheon buffet (too great a temptation for Baptists), we called ahead to make reservations.\u00a0 As the waiter escorted us to our table, we passed by the “buffet.”\u00a0 I put that in quotes because I’m not sure that what I saw that day could be considered a buffet in any\u00a0meaningful sense of the word.<\/p>\n

After determining that there was nothing on the menu that appealed to me, I resigned myself to the fact that I would pay $9.99 for the opportunity to choose from no more than a dozen items, half of which I did not like in the first place.\u00a0 With plate in hand, I made my way to the food.\u00a0 Looking in vain for tortillas to make a burrito, I found none.\u00a0 At that moment, the waiter came out and asked if anyone would like tortillas.\u00a0 “Why yes, we would love some.”\u00a0 To which he replied, “We charge a quarter for each tortilla.”\u00a0 As\u00a0I heard this perplexing statement (tortillas are one of the cheapest foods in New Mexico), I concluded right then and right there that this would be my first and last time eating in this establishment.\u00a0 If you think I’m being overly critical, almost to a person everyone else in our party said that they would not return either.<\/p>\n

Maybe they were just having a bad day at the restaurant the time that we decided to visit.\u00a0 “Forgive and forget,” some would say.\u00a0 “Don’t be too harsh.\u00a0 Give them another try.\u00a0 It’ll be better next time.”\u00a0 Following the example of Jesus, we should be quick to offer forgiveness to someone who offends us and equally as\u00a0quick to ask for forgiveness when sin against someone else.\u00a0 After all, forgiveness is central to the Gospel message.\u00a0 “I forgive you,” are some of the most beautiful words in the English language (or any language for that matter).<\/p>\n

But, how does the Biblical principle of forgiveness apply in a situation where you have been “offended,”\u00a0not by someone’s sin against you, but\u00a0because of\u00a0poor service?\u00a0 Must you forgive\u00a0and forget\u00a0the bad service you previously received at the eatery, only to\u00a0willingly subject yourself\u00a0(and your money) to the same\u00a0quality the next go around?\u00a0 Why would you continue to be a customer —\u00a0at a\u00a0restaurant, bookstore, church, or website — when you have been treated shabbily on your first visit.\u00a0 What makes you think that your subsequent visits will be any more pleasant?<\/p>\n

I’ve thought a lot about this in recent days, not just in the context of a restaurant, but in the context of my blog.\u00a0 I may view this blogging thing differently than some within the Baptist blogosphere.\u00a0 I look at everyone\u00a0who stops by and reads my blog as a valued customer.\u00a0 In the case of From Law to Grace, you’re not spending any money, but you are spending your precious time in reading what I have written.\u00a0 I don’t expect everyone who reads my posts or takes the time to comment on them to agree with everything that I write.\u00a0 Life would be too boring if that were the case.\u00a0 But I hope those who read and those who take the extra time to dialogue with me will find your visits here to be pleasant.\u00a0 The customer may not always be right, but you will always be treated right around here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“How was everything?” asked the waiter as we finished our staff luncheon at a new restaurant in town.\u00a0 “Fine,” was the standard reply from\u00a0those who managed\u00a0to get any words out.\u00a0 The others, not wanting to say what they really thought of the dining experience, filed out the door quietly. We had come to celebrate the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[170,273,397],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blogs","tag-customer-service","tag-forgiveness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-7N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}