I and a few friends share the belief that we are Saved by Grace Through Faith alone and not by works, lest any man should boast. I have spent time arguing, debating teaching and sharing the good news with people that we are saved by grace, and what we do or don’t do doesn’t matter as far as the manner in which we are saved is concerned. But it has turned out difficult for some people to believe especially those from religions and cults whose background is a performance-based.
It has really bothered me why people who have gone to school can fail to pick this simple logic that a sick person cannot heal themselves but rather, need help from a doctor.
God today decided to show me how am no different from such people. I boarded a taxi (MATATU) from the taxi park. The taxi operator was calling passengers and reminding each of us that the fare is Shs2,500. I jumped in and sat on the front seat with another man. As the driver ignited the engine for us to set off, I remembered that I only had Shs2,000 on me and I needed an extra Shs500, I emptied all my pockets and it was nowhere.
I asked the man next me to let me out since I didn’t have the Shs500. All the money was on my phone (mobile money), and these Kampala taxi operators do not listen to such nonsense be it truth or lies, all they want is their full payment. So as I pushed for my exit, the man next to me whispered to me and said:
“I WILL GIVE YOU THE 500, JUST RELAX, and LET’S GO”
Guess what? While anyone would expect me to be excited and confident, it turned out that I was so afraid. The taxi set off. Yes, I had mobile money on my phone but now it is useless. I don’t have the physical cash. Am a pastor, how am I going to walk out of this taxi without paying? What if this generous stranger, who I don’t know, doesn’t pay, or maybe alights before me and leaves me in the taxi without the whole fare? I have friends and brothers I can call right now and they send mobile money, but all the same, it won’t help. Am finished! All am left to do is to trust this stranger for the Shs500.
I have Shs2000 and, ironically, it doesn’t matter as much as the Shs500 that I do not have. I was in fear, I behaved well, my attitude to the driver and the stranger on my left was good. I normally do not participate in taxi talks but I found myself contributing. I was good and was willing to be good to all the passengers on that taxi.
So as I approached the point I should alight, I gave the Shs2,000 to the man and asked him to top up and pay together with his fare as he goes out of the taxi. The man said:
“DON’T GIVE IT TO ME, GIVE IT TO THE TAXI OPERATOR AND TELL HIM I WILL PAY THE Shs500”
I can’t lie, I trembled because whoever knows a Kampala taxi operator (Kondakita) will tell you what it means to stand before him without full fare. So as I trembled, I gave Shs2,000 to the Taxi Operator and he was like, “GWE MUSAJJA !!! (YOU MAN)”. My tongue sunk into my throat, and couldn’t utter a single word as guilt, helplessness and hopelessness took over me.
The other man quickly intervened and said: “I WILL GIVE YOU THE Shs500” and just like that, I was let out of the taxi. Now people who know me personally will tell you that am one of the proudest beasts on planet Earth, but as I walked out, I humbled myself and thanked the stranger who paid the Shs500 shillings.
Lessons
- If we consider money to be works of righteousness, I had too much money, Shs2,000, but lacked Shs500, and because I missed 500Shs, Shs2,000 did not matter (James 2:10 says: For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it)
- If we consider the stranger who promised Shs500 to be Jesus, I had never seen this man, I didn’t know him, and I knew nothing about him to help form the basis of my trust to his promise. Nevertheless, as frightened as I was, I kept on the bus banking on the pledge of this human being. (Hebrews 11:1 says: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen). When you look at your behaviour and the things you do, known and known to people, you know yourself being the judge wouldn’t let yourself in heaven, but if you trust and believe the stranger known as Jesus Christ, you will get there.
- If we consider the taxi operator to be the LAW, I had no excuse for the man was clear before I entered the taxi, but because am fallen even before I violate any law (Genesis 3:1-6, Romans 3:10-18, 5:19, 7:14-24, Galatians 3:17) what was clear and audible to me skipped my attention and I was illegally on the taxi.
- We all know what the law says and we don’t need the holy spirit or any professor to tell us what is right and wrong, we know, but even with that knowledge, we still mess up and I realized on that taxi that just as the taxi operator couldn’t help solve my mess, so is the law, the law won’t solve the problem of a broken law and the reason is simple, it is broken, so a broken law can’t fix itself and neither can it help its breaker (Romans 7:5 says: While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions AROUSED BY THE LAW were at work in our members to bear fruit for death). If I had attempted to deal with the taxi operator (going the legal way) there could only be one default fruit and that is DEATH.
- If we consider to the stranger to be Jesus, did you notice that he refused to take my Shs2,000 and asked me to hand it over to the taxi operator!? Jesus is not interested in your performance resume, he wants you to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. My Shs2,000 was all my big works of the LAW (Isaiah 1:7-18, Luke 18:9-14, Romans 3:20) and he asked me to give all my works of the law (Shs2,000) to my sociology where it is useful. Your obedience to the law is good for your physiology and psychology but has nothing to do with your SALVATION, It is only the 500Shs that you do not have and cannot manufacture that can help you out. (Luke 18:22 says: And when Jesus heard it he said to him, “ONE THING YOU STILL LACK” go sell ALL that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me)
- If we consider me to be representative to all sinners saved by grace, then I realized that I did not need the law to help me behave, because I knew that of all people in the taxi, I was the only one on it by grace and mercy, I was not arrogant, I did not steal, I couldn’t kill, nor covet, or mention any illegal act. I was humble and expressed goodness to all my fellow passengers. All this was because I understood my status on this taxi, I wasn’t adamant or arrogant about my situation and neither could I contribute to my destruction. I knew I was at someone’s mercy and I was smart enough not to commit suicide. My behaviour not a reference to any law, but I referenced from who I was in that taxi. I wasn’t looking at any written law or constitution that can be potentially amended, all I was focused on was this stranger who had promised the Shs500 and my destiny (Galatians 5:21 says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW
- If the stranger had handed over the Shs500 I lacked to me, immediately, I wouldn’t have panicked and neither would I have struggled with FAITH and TRUST. And this is the distinction between RELIGION and CHRISTIANITY. Religion is real and tangible, Christianity is FAITH and TRUST. Religion has a ritual, a symbol, a tradition, a law, and it is materialistic in all its transactions (Mathew 12:39) but Christianity is FAITH and TRUST, its reality becomes manifest in who you become if you trust (2Corinthians 5:7 says: For we walk by faith not by sight). You might not see any immediate changes in behaviour or in your life altogether but what your eyes can’t see, ears can’t hear, the brain can’t imagine, heaven has and considers you thus.
Friends, I had the Shs2,000 but I could only be saved by Shs500. The logic here is Shs2,000 is too much to die with over a fare of Shs2,500. it doesn’t matter how much religion you have, how much theology you know, how rich, how poor, how educated or illiterate, how many miracles you perform, and how anointed one is. If you don’t believe in JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH ALONE, you are gone with your Shs2,000. (Mathew 7:21-23)
Pr ITM WHITE
The Gospel Hawker
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 