How Far Are You Willing to Go for Jesus?
by: Jahan Berns
In his book, “When God Makes a Pastor”, Burton, W.F.P. writes about a South African Black man by the name of Elias Letwaba, born in 1870 in the royal line of the Ndebele tribe. Unlike most of the Ndebele tribe, Letwaba’s parents were devout Christians who taught him to love Jesus. As a young man, he came into the richness of understanding Christ’s love and presence. From that moment on, all he wanted to do, was to share his faith with everyone he came across. Given the intense racial segregation in South Africa at that time, it was impossible for a Black man to preach to White South Africans. But heavily burdened for the White South African community in the Transvaal region, Letwaba decided to do the unthinkable. One day, he approached a rowdy drinking crowd of White South Africans and began to preach the Gospel to them!
Shocked and indignant at his lack of respect for the segregation laws, the crowd descended upon him with heavy blows and kicked him to the ground. When Letwaba finally regained his feet, instead of returning railing for railing, he adopted tones of deepest humility and respect. They expected that he would show some impertinence, for which they could molest him further, but he said:
“My masters, when a white farmer sends his little native boy with a letter to another farmer, they respect that letter. They do not rush at the little boy who carried it and say that he had no right to insult them by bringing them the letter. They will even hand over a wagon and span of oxen on account of the letter brought by that little boy. In the same way I am only a little letter- carrier, a nobody. I would not presume to come here and tell you what I think, or to try to impress my own opinions upon you. But I have brought a letter from One for whom you have a great respect. I hold His letter in my hand.”
He then held up his Bible to show them the living letter of God’s words. In such humble pleading tones, Letwaba introduced a simple gospel message, quoting passages with which all his hearers were familiar, yet giving to them a newer, richer fullness than they had ever heard. Frowns and curses gave way to wonderment, and before long the listeners were crying. They forgot the Black messenger and were enthralled by his message. They were convicted, gripped, subdued. What a Gospel! What a Savior! As for the preacher, they lost sight of him in the glory of his Lord. Sobbing, with their hearts broken and filled with love, they were converted, healed, and set free from a life of sin.
Living for Jesus comes with many challenges. While I am not averse to making sacrifices for Jesus that I deem reasonable, every time I come across stories like Letwaba’s or read the book of Acts in the New Testament, I often ask myself: “How far am I willing to go for Jesus? How much am I willing to sacrifice for the Gospel?”
The life of the Apostle Paul, giant of faith that he was, always inspires us to greater servanthood and service. There are few men and women in the Bible that divested themselves of pride and station like Paul did, in order to reach others with the message of the Gospel. No matter the personal cost, he shared the love and message of Christ with a tenacity, persistence and humility that few of his peers had. A great illustration of this is found in 2 Corinthians 6:3-13 where Paul writes:
We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us…We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, genuine yet regarded as impostors. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you. There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us. I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!
In this day and age, where we are carried along by rivers of pride, the concept of pleading with others to accept us or our message is viewed as unseemly, uncomfortable, and downright objectionable. And yet, the Bible is replete with examples of God’s love- a love so tenacious and persistent that it’s never beneath the divine heart of God to plead for our attention and acceptance. See an example of this in Matthew 23:37.
Could it be that one of the main reasons we are not seeing the lost come to Christ is that we are not sharing the gospel, and/or we are not sharing the gospel with a persistent love and humility. How far are you willing to go for Jesus?
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To love well as Christians, we must grasp the depths to which love went for us and understand how deeply we are loved. The Bible tells the story of a good Father who passionately loves His children, giving the most valuable possession of heaven to redeem us. Love paid a high price for us.