Kimberly (center) with some of the MAF Lesotho staff, in a traditional Basotho dress she had made for a special occasion.
Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Rethabile and Sefiri, two of our MAF Basotho staff, over lunch. We ate our food and talked about ministry and what God had been teaching us through the reading of His Word. I had just finished a women’s Bible study on Jesus’ last prayer before His crucifixion (John 17) and shared with them a favorite passage from the last verse of John 16 (just before the prayer):
In this world you will have trouble, but take heart… for I have overcome the world.” ––John 16:33
This prompted Rethabile, still a new and growing Christian, to share about how he is being observed by former co-workers and others that he’s worked with at the airport. These are people who knew him before he gave his heart to Jesus and they have seen the change–– hallelujah! While Rethabile isn’t always comfortable with their scrutiny of his new joy, vocabulary and lifestyle, he accepts it as an opportunity to show them how radically Jesus has changed his life. He shared what one of the men recently said to him:
“I have watched you because I knew this change wouldn’t last, but to my surprise it has for over a year. There must be something to this new faith you claim, because you are a different man than you used to be. I am not ready to embrace Jesus and leave the ancestors behind, but there is truth in your new life.”
While I easily stick out in Lesotho if for no other reason than skin tone––admittedly I’m pretty pale compared to my neighbors––I pray that I stick out in a way that leads people to make the same accusation made of Rethabile, “There must be something to this faith you claim, because you are different.”
Rethabile confided, “Mme Kimberly, they watch you too and they see how you love the Basotho. They watch all of us at MAF because they know we follow Christ alone. They see that we are different from the other Basotho that claim they know Jesus but still worship their ancestors.”
When was the last time someone called you out for not “fitting in” or “behaving like everyone else” and they attributed it to your relationship with Jesus?