Pay It Forward Revenge

Don't you love random acts of kindness? I know I do!

Well, that's only partially true. I love dishing them out, but I can't stand receiving them.

They make me feel like a hero to give them. They make me feel like crap get them (which is never what the person is going for).

There's something about my stupid pride that doesn't allow me to graciously accept kind acts.

It's great if I buy you a cup of coffee. But you try to buy my cup, I secretly hate you and realize that now I owe you two cups of coffee. Stupid pride!

Stupid pride showed his ugly face at a Starbucks' drive-thru recently.

My wife and I were going through the drive-thru and I ordered a hazelnut macchiato. Which I dubbed a "hizzlenut". The barista loved it. My wife was a little embarrassed. But that's okay, because the drive-thru is one of my favorite places to embarrass her. It makes me feel like I'm on the radio.

When I drove up to pay for my hizzlenut, the lady told me that someone had bought ours.

At first I thought, "Man that is so sweet! How nice of them!"

But then reality set in. Sweat beads ran off my forehead. I cursed Christian cuss words under my breathe. How could they do this to me? How could they buy my coffee?

I panicked and asked, "Did they say that they knew me?"

She said, "No, actually, two cars in front of you paid for the car behind them. They said to 'Pay it forward.' So the Volvo in front of you paid for yours."

I had already handed her my card. In a split second, I saw the brilliance in the white Volvo.

They paid it forward directly. No wait time. They didn't owe anyone anything anymore. They went ahead and exacted revenge. They pulled off "pay it forward revenge."

The white Volvo in front of me had to be another person who hated it when people bought them things. But they also loved being nice to other people. (Of course, they could also just be nice people.)

She began to hand me the card back and I partook in a little "pay it forward revenge." I couldn't stand for someone to do something nice for me. So I paid for the people behind me. Paying it forward revenge can be sweet!

Not only that, but their bill was three dollars more expensive. (Although, when she accidentally tried to give me their dessert, I wanted to tell them that they were being excessive.)

My motives were 100% impure. I didn't pay to do a nice thing. I did it to get even. Poor little Joel Haley Osment didn't die in that movie (Pay It Forward), so that people could pay it forward out of revenge.

Are you like this? You don't mind to give, but you are terrible at receiving.

This is totally contradictory of what it means to be a Christian.

We freely receive Jesus' forgiveness. We can't earn it and we can't pay it forward. He freely gives it.

Pride can be such an ugly thing that it attempts to dilute that.

For so many years, I have tried to pay God back for his love. I've tried to prove myself to him. When really the only thing you can do is graciously accept his free love.

I'm working on my pride. Do you need to also?

Question:
Does it drive you crazy when someone does a random act of kindness for you?