I had been driving down Jan Smuts Avenue in Jo’burg (on my way to pick up a pastor after enjoying a breakfast with like minded Christian leaders), minding my own business, thinking Godly thoughts, when seemingly out of nowhere a taxi cut me off!

Braking and swerving sharply to avoid collision I uttered a few sharp expletives (which I will not repeat in a Christian magazine) and using universally recognised hand signalling, conveyed to the driver exactly what I thought of him! With hardly a glance in my direction he carried on with his business, leaving me seething within.

“If only people would be more considerate”, I thought self righteously.

“Why can’t that taxi driver consider others and not just his own selfish desires, why can’t he act in a more Christian way?” I asked, forgetting my very unchristian response to him.

The answer that immediately came to mind literally brought tears to my eyes.

“Tim, he acts that way because you have not yet introduced him to Me!”

What a huge responsibility we have been given. God has entrusted us with the job of taking the Gospel (good news) of Christ’s redeeming sacrifice to all people who do not yet have an intimate relationship with him. We read about what we have been called to do in Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus came to his disciples and said,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Not in isolation

We are not called to be Christians in isolation, but to go into the world and teach others about Christ. About how they should be living their lives, according to what he has commanded us – to love God with all your being, and to love your neighbour as yourself, so that they too can dwell in close communion with him!

But don’t try to do it on your own. Verse 29 starts with the word ‘therefore’. This indicates what is about to follow is because of what has just preceded. In other words, because all authority has been given to Christ, we are able to go out and make disciples. We do it in him and through him, by his mighty power.

Ephesians 1:17-23: “But I do more than thank. I ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory–to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him–endless energy, boundless strength! All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the centre of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence”.

We are the Church, the very temple of the living God. In the Old Testament he led his tabernacle (earthly dwelling) by getting the Israelites to follow a tower of fire and smoke. We need to learn to be Spirit guided, in tune with him, following where he leads us, the modern dwelling place of his Holy Spirit. We need to allow him to work within us and lead us to those who do not yet know that more than anything else, they need God in their lives.

So the next time someone wrongs you, are you going to react as I first did to that taxi driver, or will you see them through Christ’s eyes, and be spurred on to take the grace and love of Christ to those who so desperately need it?