In 1997, Reed
Hastings returned a rented copy of the movie Apollo 13 to Blockbuster Video.
He was dismayed when he was told he owed a $40 late fee, more than
double the cost to buy the movie. The next year he founded Netflix as an
alternative to the movie rental change.
By 2010 Blockbuster was bankrupt and out of business and Netflix was
worth 20 billion dollars. While Netflix didn't shut down blockbuster, it did
steal the market that Blockbuster needed to move into. Abusing one customer
destroyed them in the end.
We may not think
much of the slights we give to others. The rude comment to the
waitress, the person we cut off in traffic, the people we cut in front of in
the checkout line, the man we shortchange in business; but we always need to be
careful because we never know when those small slights may cause big damage. I hate to think of the examples of people that
refuse to come to worship services because that is where “so & so” goes and
once they did them wrong. Little slights
and conflicts have a way of growing into things much bigger than we expect.
In Matthew 5:25 Jesus tells us, "Make
friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so
that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the
officer, and you be thrown into prison”.
Don’t think a slight conflict is no big deal. It can grow until it destroys
you. Be conscience of how we treat the world around us. The light we send could
lead them to Christ but the slight we give may also keep them from the truth!
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