"Even the pagans do that"

And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Matthew 5:47

I read a statistic a few weeks ago that said the average person will meet approximately 10,000 people during their lifetime. We may live in a small town and know everyone's name or we may live in a large metropolitan city and know very few people by name.  We may spend our day in a school or business crowded with many people or we may work alone in a small office.  I began imagining how big that number would grow to if we also counted all the people we interact with each day without introducing ourselves or asking for their names. The cashier at the grocery store, the person on the elevator, the waiter in the restaurant, or the person who walks in while we hold the door, are too many to count. What if we included the people we speak to on the phone, email, or interact with on social media? Our group of ten thousand could pretty soon become 100,000. If I add all the people that my wife, daughter, son, daughter-in-law and I meet, or just interact with for a brief moment, the number could be well over 500,000 people in our lifetimes.

But, our days are busy, we are hustling from one place to another, and there is not enough time to stop, ask someone for their name, and get to know them. However, I believe we can have a lasting impact on people and we are told to do so by our Heavenly Father. We are told in Matthew 5:47 that if we only greet the people who are our family or who we call friends we are doing no more than the pagans. Even the pagans have family and friends who they love, care for, and treat with respect.

Each of us, regardless of age or job title, will spend a portion of our day meeting, greeting, or talking to others. Some we know personal details about, others we only see on occasion, and others we will only see for a single moment in our lives. By the end of our lives we will have interacted with approximately 10,000 people.  What an awesome responsibility God places on each of us to show His Son to each of these people regardless of the length of time we speak  or how well we get to know them.

Our Heavenly Father expects us to do more than others. Many people will go throughout this day and never notice the many lost people around them. I prayed today to take a few seconds with each person I encounter, look them in the eyes when I speak, listen to them, and treat them with respect. We never know who will see us and hear our words, wonder what makes us different, and later discover it is our Savior living within our hearts.

Chad