Letting Your Light Shine Before Men

Brother Nasser in Egypt is an evangelist who purposely creates opportunities to share Christ with others. But sometimes the example of his life shines brightly enough that opportunities come to him. Nasser lives in a Muslim neighborhood, like most Christians, who are just a tiny minority of the population in Egypt.

 

One cold January night, Nasser heard pebbles tapping against his apartment window around 2 a.m. He opened the window and saw his neighbor, a Muslim leader, standing outside. “I need help from you,” he said. “My wife is very sick and I have to take her to the hospital.” The man asked if Nasser could take them in his car. Nasser agreed cheerfully.

 

Nasser and his wife accompanied their neighbors to the hospital and stayed with the couple for more than two hours until the woman was admitted. On the ride home from the hospital, Nasser’s neighbor told him, “I asked my cousin to come help me, but he wouldn’t. He told me that he had to sleep because he had work early in the morning. But when I asked you if you could help us, you just said you could.” Nasser responded, “Jesus Christ — this is what he was teaching us to do, to stand with our friends when they need our help.”

 

After the woman was released from the hospital, she needed help getting injections in her hip every morning. Nasser’s neighbor again asked him if he could help. “For me it was a good development in the relationship,” said Nasser. “I couldn’t imagine he would ask me … a man, AND a Christian, to give his wife an injection.”

 

Nasser continues to show love to his neighbor, but it isn’t always easy, especially because of the man’s position as a Muslim leader. “We began a friendship together, and people were watching us together,” said Nasser. A cousin of the neighbor damaged Nasser’s car. Nasser’s family received threats. “For example, if I’m in my car, they come up in front of me with their car very slow, just to make me nervous. They want to make troubles for me from time to time,” he said.

 

The relationship between the two men is still good, however. “I have a burden in my heart to continue offering love to them because this is the only thing that will affect their life,” said Nasser. “So I just continue praying for them and continue loving them.”

 

Can we do the same for our enemies?