Share the Truth in Everyday Encounters

Taking a taxi is an everyday event. Going to the grocery store, to the big market, to church, to pay utility bills or nearly anything else that needs or wants to be accomplished requires a taxi ride. There are approximately 1,000 taxis’ in Diego we have been told. They range from the old Renault’s barely big enough for my legs to fit into the front seat to the open 3 passenger Bajaj’s which we prefer. Honestly, it is quite fun to ride in a Bajaj and my family thoroughly enjoys it most of the time. When it rains, well that is another story, but normally it is an enjoyable way to get around town. 

Often, we use the time to practice language, whether speaking to the driver or other passengers or simply by listening to them talk which is good for our comprehension of the language. Our team has also been praying for the taxi drivers and we are intentionally looking to get to know them to be able to share the gospel with many of them. 

Today at team meeting we listened to a message from the Church at South Lake in Florida where we attended while living there. The message was challenging to me. Simply moving to and living in Madagascar does not make me obedient to Jesus. What makes me obedient is living out my faith, and well to put it simply, by obeying what Jesus said. That may sound simple, but it is difficult. Not only here in Madagascar, but everywhere, we get comfortable and into routines which do not always include being completely obedient. The part that really hit me was when Don points out how much we must really hate someone not to tell them about Jesus and basically allowing them to go to hell. Ouch, that hurt Don. The truth often does. 

After our meeting, I was in a taxi with my teammate Chris heading back from picking up pizza for everyone so we could have a team lunch together. Our driver, Patrice, was willing to talk and even joked about his knowledge of English, spitting out a few phrases. Fresh from an amazing prayer time and hearing a very true and convicting message, I knew I needed to attempt to share the good news of Jesus with Patrice. I asked a few general questions to find out his religious background and he was open to talking, so I jumped in. It was not the prettiest of conversations to be sure, but using my limited Malagasy and mixing in my not perfect French it was effective. We spoke of Jesus’ death, sinless life, resurrection, the Injil (Arabic for New Testament) and a few other areas. Patrice did not accept Christ, but it was a spiritual conversation which I pray will lead to more conversations and the Holy Spirit working in his life, one day leading Patrice to follow Christ. 

The point is that we all need to be intentional in living life, to love people as Christ loves them, to see them how Christ does, either saved or lost, and then proceed accordingly. As Don’s message pointed out, Christ has all authority and He is with us always. Armed with that reassurance and reminder, let us all be bold wherever we find ourselves. We are to love to God with everything and love our neighbors as ourselves, and to not share such an eternal message is nothing short of the opposite of love, which is hating people so much that we allow them to die without the gospel, and that is unacceptable for any follower of Christ. 

Here is the link the message if you would like to listen to it: http://www.churchatsouthlake.com/multimedia-archive/go/