So what does it look like once these people are in the car (meaning: being loved like Christ loves them)? Maybe it looks like a better relationship with your spouse because you’re done being mad. Maybe it looks like your whole office environment changing because you chose to bring encouragement to your workplace. Maybe it’s showing your teenage kid love even when they aren’t showing love in return. Jesus told his disciples as He bent down to wash their feet, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:7). In this verse, Jesus is foreshadowing His death on the cross, but it counts for our lives, too. It was God promising that the daily choices we make would have a long-lasting effect on someone else, and just because we can’t see the fruits of those choices it is not an excuse to not make them.
Maybe we had already done that for people who rooted for us when Josh was getting better, but this time, we wanted to do it on purpose. We wanted to plant seeds of faith and create an environment of growth for God to do the work. As humans, we struggle with motivation toward an unknown outcome, but this is the threshold of faith. We walk forward in faith knowing that even if people get out of our vehicle, rob us blind, or take the ride for granted, we are still headed toward heaven. We are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Asked to flavor the world with a life lived for Christ and to shine the light it can bring to others. So, when we relinquish control, allow God outside of the box, and let go of the route we wanted to use, we stay steadfast with Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
This is what we’ve learned after our mistakes, our victories, and our faith journeys that help us get people in our vehicle headed toward heaven:
1. Begin with gratitude. Put grateful and attitude together and get gratitude. There is no other posture humans can take that allows for more growth. People who are truly grateful can receive a perspective change, a higher level of responsibility in what they already do, an eye for opportunity, humility in their achievements, and, above all, joy! It turns what we have into enough, and that is attractive to the wanderers, wounded, and weary.
2. Be giving. After Josh’s injuries, someone told him, “You don’t owe the world anything.” As we both grew closer to God, we realized that those words could not be further from the truth. We owe the world a lot, not because of what the world has given us but because this world is filled with God’s people. Give to the poor, hungry, and naked, but also make sure you give to the grumpy gal in the cubicle next to you. Everything on this earth belongs to God. We are just stewarding those things to pick up more people.
3. Share your faith. There is a reason everyone is the way they are. We love God because of the big and the small things He has done for us. Even if He never gave me another thing, He sent His Son to pay for our sins, and that is enough. However, not everyone believes that way! And you are the person there picking them up. If they choose to get in the car, and we are willing to serve them as Christ would, then we will be fine with the skepticism, criticism, and disbelief at first. God will change their hearts; we will love them right where they are just as Christ did for us. “Again he said, ‘What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade’” (Mark 4:30–32). I don’t want to get caught not planting the mustard seed because it seemed too skeptical.
4. Forgive. Eventually, someone will get in the car and do everything they can to crash it. Regardless of how many people get hurt, that person deserves forgiveness. Jesus Christ, who was sinless among people, did not withhold forgiveness from us, so what right do we have to withhold it from a fellow sinner? In our opinion, there is no way on earth to be more like
