Hello ,
I couldn't help but look surprised when the postal clerk blurted out her request. "Your credit card isn't signed on the back. I can't accept it for payment."
I smiled and said, "Why can't you accept it?"
Her response: "We wouldn't know if it was YOU that was making the payment."
Forgive me, but I began to chuckle. It was a small town post office, and the clerk was always nice to me; but I probed a little deeper into the conversation.
"So...what would it take for you to accept payment from me with this credit card?"
She grinned reassuringly and said, "You'd have to sign the back of your card."
I inquired, "Have you actually thought about what you just said to me, or are you just following orders?"
She paused for a moment, and then looked embarrassed. "I have never even thought about how ridiculous that probably sounds," she responded. "If you sign it right in front of me, how does that make it any more valid than if you didn't sign it at all?"
Her eyes were wide now. She quietly whispered, "I never even questioned the boss when they told me this. I just followed whatever they told me to do."
I grabbed a fine point marker and signed my name to the back of my credit card. "I don't want to get you into any trouble, but just wanted to see if you had actually thought about what you were requesting," I responded.
"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Acts 17:11
Just because someone appears to be an authority in the scriptures, doesn't mean that we can't question their opinions regarding it. There are other options:
- We can disagree...agreeably.
- We can seek clarification from them. (Perhaps they didn't mean what we thought we heard them say).
- We can search the scriptures for ourselves, and study what the word of God says about any subject that might come up. There's nothing inherently wrong with questioning something that sounds like it doesn't align with the Word of God. In fact, God holds those who do it in high regard.
"For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
Here's a song that illustrates what we're discussing: Song Link
Have a great day and God bless!
