Discipleship and Harrods of London

In my earlier blog I wrote about preaching at an English Pub while I was in London. On my last day since it was so cold and I had limited time I decided to spend the afternoon with a young man whom I have had the privilege of being in discipleship with some years back.

The ideal place to go to was Harrods of London, it was only 2 stops away from where we were by subway and we would be indoors. To a Filipino Harrods is a tourist attraction. This is the store where stars, sheiks, super-models and stock moguls went to buy their groceries. Who knows who you might just bump into?

But there was a more focused reason why I wanted to go to Harrods which is the first point of this post: I wanted to spend some time that afternoon with my friend in the hopes of a discipleship moment. Here’s a tip, use your free time and make it a discipleship moment. It could be during a coffee break, over lunch or at the gym. Since you're going to do something you might as well do it with someone instead of doing it alone.

So there we were, eventually we found ourselves in the watch and jewelry section. Many of the watch brands were unfamiliar to us. With prices ranging from 1000 pounds (US$ 2000) to as much as 30,000 pounds (US$ 60,000). It was then that my friend said something like this: “I don’t get it. I feel this is a waste given that so many are starving.” He was right about his feeling he was however wrong to judge these people for their reality. Thank God I have been in his place before – See Prayer and Harrods of London.

Many of the people who shop at Harrods were born shopping there. And that’s not their fault. That’s their reality. In the same way it is wrong to judge the poor who were born to theirs.

I remember the first time I went to Harrods. I was still a businessman then. I was amazed at the number of cars and chauffeurs waiting outside the store. The cars ranged from Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and the sort. It was surreal. Which brings me to my second point. If we are intimidated by what people wear, own or where they live and how they act, how can we reach them? These people are no different from people in other mission fields who dress, speak, act and live differently from the way we do.

The problems rich people have are no different from ours. From emptiness, depression, failed marriages, broken ties with loved ones, illnesses, fears, insecurity (they can be some of the most pitiful) and others. Which is my third point: the rich have the same problems. It is “fleshly” thinking when we think that just because people have money they have no problems. That is tantamount to saying: ‘if I just have all the money in the world I wouldn’t have any problems.” Wrong!

Fact is they too need a Savior and need discipleship. We need to find ways to reach out to them. One way of doing that is to show them we care, that we are not intimidated by who they are and what they represent. More importantly we need to win their trust that we have no other agenda than to lead them into a personal relationship with our Lord and make them His disciple. That takes time and wisdom. In the meantime our eyes feasted on the world’s best while I got my discipleship moment.

Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all. Proverbs 22:2

See other Posts:

Prayer and Harrods of London

Why I was In London (1) (2) (3)