A female UBER driver gave me a ride recently and we had a wonderful conversation, which dovetailed into her sharing how she loved to spend time on YouTube. She told me how YouTube videos served as a major resource platform to help sort out her domestic chores or repairs. She especially told me that by simply spending time with YouTube, she learnt how to do some plumbing repairs in her bathroom. I had taken the chat rather lightly, as her disposition seemed to be consistent with her desire to cut the costs of hiring a repair person. However, when I recently went to the Billy Graham Center at the Wheaton College, Illinois, USA, an old animated poster of Evangelist Billy Graham caught my attention with the caption “the repair man is here”.
This caption put the UBER driver’s story into very clear perspectives for me. She became a repair person by paying close attention to what she saw and learnt through a YouTube video, the same way Evangelist Billy Graham was tagged a repair man in the animated poster, by the things he saw and learnt in the Bible.
The apostle Paul magnificently echoes this theme to the Church in Corinth when he says “Such is the confidence and steadfast reliance and absolute trust that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficiently qualified in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency and qualifications come from God. He has qualified us [making us sufficient] as ministers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not of the letter [of a written code] but of the Spirit; for the letter [of the Law] kills [by revealing sin and demanding obedience], but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 2:4-6 AMP). This statement buttresses Jesus’ first cardinal statement to his disciples when he said “Come, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17). In other words, fellowship with Jesus automatically capacitates us to be repair people – people who are hard wired to love, save, build and cherish all that God has made and loves (1John 4:17)!
I really love the way Emmanuel Oyelade’s song ‘Emmanuel’ accentuates these concepts. The lyrics in the second stanza particularly gets my attention. It says:
The Lion of the tribe of Judah lives in me
He’s working inside of me
God is working from my inside
To the outside Reaching everywhere
All over the world (He’s working inside of me)
God is working from my inside
To the outside Reaching everywhere
All over the world
These lyrics are simply breathtaking. It is so refreshing to know that our Father lives in us and is working through us to reach the entire world. We are his repair people – His business associates (1 Corinthians 3:9, 2 Corinthians 6:1). Jesus lives and works through us (Hebrews 2:10-12)! Please let us always keep this in mind and we will always be at our best (Romans 12:1-2). Every believer in Jesus Christ is a repair person sent into a dying world (Matthew 5:13-16)!
“Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 AMP).
Emeka Ofia.
