Last week, as I was unloading my Cube to start my day at my office in the Antrim Mill building, a car pulled up in front of mine. Just as I was about to go in the front door of the edifice, the driver rolled down his window and asked a question. Between the distance and the traffic on 202 I couldn’t hear him...so I headed down to his vehicle.

He was looking for directions to The Common Man Restaurant in Bennington. Although I ate there once, I wasn’t positive about the route–so I described how to get to the center of Bennington by turning left at the mill, and let him know that at least there he’d be close enough to get final instructions for reaching his goal (if needed, he could drop by the country store in town). Satisfied, he was on his way.

When it comes to conversations of import, my short one with that gentleman does not rate high, but for some reason a couple days later I reflected on it and realized that I could have told him:

"I can’t get you where you are going, but I can get you closer than you were."

Couldn’t that be a mantra for us Christians? We can help people "find" Jesus, but ultimately only the Father can draw them and the Holy Spirit convict them (see John 6:44 and 16:8-11). We cannot get them where they are going, but, with the Spirit’s guidance, we can get them closer than they were.

However, in the cacophony that is modern Christianity, we can also view the other types of directions the breakfast-seeking motorist could have gotten. First, I could have thought I didn’t know well enough to help him along his way...or that it wasn’t my job to give directions. "The police station is in the town hall about a tenth of a mile back–go ask them." As a fearful or a reluctant Christian, we can force people to aimlessly drive around and find their own way.

Second, I could have been convinced I knew the way to The Common Man, but have been mistaken–unknowingly sending him away from the person(s) he wanted to sup with. Just because it would have been an honest mistake wouldn’t make the impact any less–he would be lost unless someone set him on the correct path. As a deceived Christian, we can self-assuredly persuade others to take the wrong turns with us.

Finally, I could have decided that if I wasn’t going to get a chance to eat at The Common Man, that gentleman shouldn’t either–and purposely given him inaccurate directions that would make sure, at a minimum, he missed his culinary appointment...or perhaps sent him to a remote location where I could have my criminal friends laying in wait for him. As a corrupt "Christian," we can deliberately direct someone over a cliff–make them "twice as much a child of hell" as us (see Matthew 23:15, ESV).

Obviously, my metaphor doesn’t limit us to these options–but I think you get the point. Which type of "Christian" do you want to be? Fearful? Reluctant? Deceived?

An antichrist? (See 2 John 7.)

You never know when someone on their spiritual journey will pull over, lower their window, and ask you for directions. Are you prepared? Do you have the right map? Do you have the right heart?

Will they be closer than they were?

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