I nearly wet my pants the other day – literally. I got into a taxi and sat in the front next to the driver. He must’ve been possessed though because he was driving like a demon. Michael Schumacher had nothing on this guy. Weaving in and out, stopping abruptly, crossing 3 or 4 lanes in one go are just some of the pants wetting manoeuvres he pulled. I got out in one piece but completely shaken.
After I calmed down and I know this is probably a dumb thing to say, I actually thought to myself this guy’s got some excellent driving skills. I then daydreamed about having a mini-bus taxi driving Formula 1 Grand Prix type competition where taxi drivers got to compete against each other. I liked the idea for two reasons: 1) it would contain their madness to a closed circuit environment, albeit temporarily and 2) they’d know exactly what other motorists feel like when they put other people’s lives at risk. Truth be told, I loved the idea of them having a bit of their own medicine and like a mad person walking in the street, I even smiled at this thought.
Isn’t it amazing how easily we can go from love your neighbour as yourself to taking revenge on them? Yes, it was only some random thought in my head but truth be told, I really wanted for that taxi driver to experience what I felt and what other passengers and motorists feel every time their lives are endangered.
How often don’t people do this – bearing grudges and even take revenge when they’ve been ‘wronged’? Well, the truth is you and I are guilty too, much more than a taxi driving maniac! The Bible makes it clear that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). We have sinned against God, we have wronged Him and He has every right to act towards us, the way we would often do others.
But He doesn’t because His nature is love and we see this love poured out for us through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ dying and taking on the sins of the world – a price we were supposed to pay. Now if this is the nature of God and His response to those who have wronged Him, how much more are we not supposed to do the same? I know this is hard and at the best of times a difficult thing to do. It will however continue to be a difficult and near impossible thing to do unless we focus on the place where that response comes from. What is your heart condition? Perhaps that’s what makes a loving response so difficult.
Whether we like it or not, our responses have to reflect the nature of God. And so:
