I remember once in Montenegro, when Anna and I had gone to a Women’s Beach. This beach was for Muslim women, and knowing Anna’s heart for Muslims, we enthusiastically made our way the few kilometers to the beach. (Okay, going up the stairs, I wasn’t so enthusiastic. But my enthusiasm came back as soon as my body wasn’t oxygen-depleted anymore!) We got there and met a woman named SmaragDA (can you tell where she put the emphasis?). She was really nice and told us some of her life. She’s Muslim, but she’s open to hearing about other religions.
After a while, we jumped into the ocean with Smaragda. She bid us to follow her further out into the ocean to see her favorite view in all of Montenegro. Anna has pretty bad vertigo, so she couldn’t go because the motion of the waves was likely to make her sick. So I went. I love swimming, but this was a pretty hard swim out of the cove we were in. It was long, and so many doubts were running through my head, “What if there are sharks? What if I get a muscle cramp out here? Smaragda’s too small to help me very much… Are there *any* poisonous animals out here?” My muscles were starting to get pretty fatigued as Smaragda and I swam further and further away from shore. “We are almost there, keep going” Smaragda assured me.
And last night, as we got off of a bus, I thought of Jodi’s words again. We were immediately hounded by tuk-tuk drivers, who are relentless, even when you tell them you’ve already got a tuk-tuk on the way. “But maybe he will not come,” they venture. “But you are waiting a long time for him,” they remind you. “Maybe he will charge you more than me.” They stuck around our team as we politely told them no, over and over again.
And then another bus came. And suddenly, the cloud of tuk-tuk drivers was nowhere to be seen, having found something better, a place where options might be better. And I thought of how people can be like that a lot- we leave when a better option comes about, viewing people as resources to be used, ignoring them if they aren’t deemed helpful or able in any capacity to do something for us. We couldn’t give those tuk-tuk drivers business, so they moved on.
In one of his books, Donald Miller talks about the “lifeboat mentality” and how it seems that most people live their lives like they are vying for a spot on a lifeboat. We try to prove our worth and our value, to prove to others that we deserve a spot on this lifeboat, where there are only so many spots. How do we prove it? Clothes, grade points, sports accolades, job titles, musical ability and various talents, amount of friends, how many comments we get on Facebook statuses or even blog posts. We try to say to others, “Hey! I’m somebody! You should be impressed.”
So, you’re asking, what’s that have to do with tuk-tuk drivers and a spiritual parallel?
Jesus never lived his life like that. He basically lived his life the opposite way, instead giving worth and love to those the world deemed unworthy and unloveable. Prostitute? Come on over! Tax collector? Welcome! Homeless, disillusioned, broken, hurt, not smart enough-whatever. Jesus welcomed them and loved them all.
The kingdom of Heaven has no room for social maneuvering and lifeboat mentalities. Love gets rid of that. When I love you, I do not see AIDS, I do not see poverty, I do not see the filth on your body or smell the stench of urine and weeks of accumulated sweat. I see you. I see your desire to find and know love. I see a soul that God loves with a depth and breadth and width that I sometimes find hard to believe.
Jesus just loved people. Will He let you stay in your sin? Of course not. But that’s because He calls us to a higher purpose. Jesus would never leave a group simply because another bus pulled up, full of other people with potential money in their pockets, who are maybe richer or have different accents. Jesus didn’t live His life focused on the allure of money or what he could acquire.
You know when He sent out the 70 and said, “Take no extra tunic or sandals with you, no extra money”? That implies that they either had, or could have gotten, those things. But He’s saying, don’t take it! Rely on other people. Elevate them by letting them help you, encourage them by letting them also encourage you. Jesus could have been a millionaire in a matter of seconds on earth- he proved that when he called Peter (Luke 5:6)- and been guaranteed a spot on the “lifeboat”.
Instead, he lived his life from a different viewpoint, where there is no lifeboat, and everyone has worth.
I want to be more like Jesus and less like the tuk-tuk driver.
