Tuesday, January 7, 2014

It's Okay to Tip an Atheist

All of what I'm about to say is mostly built upon assumption about a situation that happened to me. I forward this post by saying that because I could be off the mark completely, but who knows besides Jesus.

As many people know, I am a barista at a local coffee shop here in Ypsilanti. On top of my regular hourly pay, I also get tipped (which is pretty much what I live off day to day). Many people who work in food service who also receive tips, would more than likely agree with me that tips are great and everyone should tip.

This past Saturday, I was at work and a pretty big crowd came in and ever so often someone would tip me maybe $.25 or so. A man who was in this particular group came up and jokingly told me that he had a lot of singles and didn't know what to do with them. Jokingly, I replied "Feel free to give some to me." He laughed a little bit and we started talking.

This guy is apart of a ministry that is beginning / really small in the Ypsilanti area and all the people who had gotten a coffee were also apart of this ministry. Eventually the question came as to where I'm at in my walk with Jesus to which I said something along the lines of "I believe in Jesus and I have a church I attend." More conversation happened about his ministry, business cards were exchanged, and the guy tipped me $2.00.

When he walked away, the only thing I could think about is "What about if I wasn't a Christian..." What about if I didn't believe Jesus is Lord of all,who died for my sins, rose from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father?

Would this guy have tipped me?

This is not a post about the purpose of tipping.
This is not a post about how this guy as a person.
This post is about the frustrations I have that I may have been tipped BECAUSE I believe in Jesus.

In my favorite book of God's Word, Romans, it is written in Chapter 3 about how Jews and Gentiles "alike are all under the power of sin. (v. 9)" Jews grew up with God's Word being taught to them in every aspect of life YET Jesus still says "You gotta want to be in this relationship with me for this to work properly". and Gentiles were considered the absolute least YET Jesus says "I died for you too. You also have to want this relationship for this to work."

Christ calls us to love like He loves: Without judgement, with an open heart, and with the desire to be an incarnation of Christ to everyone we meet.
And I fail daily at this. I say this to show that I also have a plank in my eye.

To conclude, a few points:

1. Tip. I'm not going to pull the sob story card but I will pull the be a good person card. Pennies are magical because they when you get enough of them, you can make nickles and dimes.

2. I don't know how Jesus feels about tipping but I do know the bit about 10% in tithing and I do know the universal suggestion of 10%-20% in tipping.

3. It's okay to tip someone who isn't a Christian because lucky for both parties, salvation isn't based on anything this world can give, but on everything God gives so freely.

I don't know if this post helped you at all. Reading it over and over, I can see how it doesn't answer anything but I feel better now. Feel free to comment and share this. I love hearing what others are thinking about something I'm thinking about.

Go out and show the world His love,
Angie

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