Those Nasty Loan Sharks
John Fischer

Those of you who have been with us for a while might remember the middle-aged woman who was a self-confessed closet wrestling fan and how she was surprised to find God's presence in the lives of some people in that somewhat dubious profession. Well, now she's got another chapter out of the same book. You know those check-cashing, loan-making, “we'll give you an advance off your next paycheck” places? Well, she happens to know someone who is regional manager for a chain of those outlets. In fact, she shared the wrestling devotional with him and his heart was lifted.

“People call us legalized loan sharks and think that it is really nasty for me to be working in this profession, especially when they find out I am a Christian. We are a legal business with the means to help a lot of people with limited options. I have many Christians who work for me. It is not unusual for us to pray with people and especially with our older customers, to spend a little time and help relieve their loneliness.”

Well I have to admit, I am one of those, as well, who was surprised to find this out. I would have made all those other assumptions as well. It's just one more illustration of how we cannot rush to judgment. One of Christ's disciples and the author of the first book of the New Testament was Matthew, the tax collector -- not a very respected profession in his day.

There are two lessons here I can think of, maybe more. One: resist the temptation to jump to conclusions about people. Jesus simplified this greatly by simply telling us not to judge at all (Matthew 7:1). (Isn't it interesting that Matthew was the one who represented this part of Christ's message? He was probably especially sensitive to being judged because of his profession.) If you know for a fact that someone is doing something wrong, that's one thing, but usually we deal more with assumptions than with accurate knowledge.

Two: God has got his people everywhere. As my friend who brought this to my attention wrote, “Is this a place where God has people that we would never have thought of?” Yes, I think it is. And doesn't that just make you love God more?

Lord, keep me from jumping to conclusions about anyone, and if you have people in the most unlikely places serving you, then open my eyes to my own opportunities to serve you at what I do.

PDL