Have you often encountered difficult
people? Are there those whose attitudes offend, provoke and irritate you even
when you want peace? How do you minister to such especially when of a different
faith: a Moslem?
She was a
passenger in the airplane and we met in the plane at the Abijan airport. She
responded rudely to my request for her to move as I sought to take a seat in
the row. “You don’t tell me where to sit!”
I held my peace and sat down. Needing to work on my computer I concentrated on
the task before me. When I was done; not wishing to inconvenience anyone by
asking anyone to stand up for me I requested her help to place the laptop with
the hand luggage. Her response was, “I am
not here to serve you.” She was decidedly unfriendly, and from the hijab I
could make out she was a Muslim. To get the laptop stowed I would have to ask
all of them on the row to get up so I asked the man sitting on the same row to
give it to the attendants to do so but he simply offered to help and put it
away for me. If possible, so far as
it depends on you, live in peace with all people Rom 12:18(ISV). Suddenly the
lady in hijab started coughing. She coughed and coughed; it was quite
distressing. I called a flight attendant over and asked for water for her. But "if your enemy is hungry, feed him. For if
he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you do this, you will pile burning coals on
his head." Do not be conquered by
evil, but conquer evil with good Rom 12:20, 21(ISV). When it was
brought she coughed whilst holding it and some of the water spilled on me. “It’s alright” I assured her as I wiped
it away. She looked at me wondering. “You
are a very kind person” she said. I realised that was the opportunity I
needed to present the gospel. Make good
use of every opportunity you have, because these are evil days Eph 5:16(GNB).
I brought out
a pocket gospel of John and gave her to read. I take a number along with me on
my trips to give people who are yet to come to know Christ. A co-worker has
once been very offended by my giving it to him but to God’s glory afterwards
came to appreciate my service. The publishers wrote on the preface that the
book offers answers to who we are and our destiny in life. When I gave it to
her she opened it and read all the way through the journey. She said to me. “Are the things written in this book true?”
I assured her they were indeed true and encouraged her to act on the word she
had read. I got down from the plane in Monrovia and left the gospel of John
with her. A servant of the Lord must not
argue. Instead, he must be kind to everyone, teachable, willing to suffer
wrong, and gentle when refuting opponents. After all, maybe God will allow them
to repent and to come to a full knowledge of the truth, so that they might
escape from the devil's snare, even though they've been held captive by him to do
his will2Tm 2:24-26(ISV) .
Nkeiru
is a military chaplain and international Haggai alumnus
No comments:
Post a Comment