Gospel Conversations
“Love is another name for God?” our Muslim friend asked.
“Yes,” I said, “it sure is.”
I had just told her and her husband that the Bible says that God is love. And as God has loved us, we are to love one another. I said I don’t always do it perfectly, but I confess my sin and seek his forgiveness, help, and strength for wisdom to live for him each day.
“We don’t know God like that,” she said. “We live with uncertainty and strive all our lives to do good things. We hope at the end of our lives that we have done enough to earn God’s favor, so at the Day of Judgment we will be accepted. For that to happen, our good deeds have to outweigh our bad deeds.”
Then she added, “So all the help you have given us is good for you, because you are getting lots of Sawab (Sawab in Islam means getting extra credit for a good deed).”
I told her my wife and I are glad to help, but it doesn’t earn us any bonus points towards our salvation. Our salvation is based on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and him alone...
The springboard of this discussion, and a whole lot more, was a brief introduction to USA geography! I was sharing that there were 50 states—the contiguous US, including Alaska and Hawaii. When I mentioned Hawaii, they asked where it was.
The couple said they had heard the terrible news of the fires and loss of life in Hawaii. They also wondered how this terrible thing could happen here in the USA, a first world country. The wife said that it was like the Day of Judgment which comes suddenly. This led to a discussion about what Judgment Day meant for them. I then asked for permission to explain how I viewed it as a follower of Jesus.
After a good back and forth, there was a pause in the discussion as the words of our conversation sunk in. Then they said, “Well, we believe in the law of Moses too and the words of the prophets. We are waiting for the Mahdi, the promised one to return, and he will save the world.”
I responded, “The Jews during the time of Jesus also believed in the law of Moses and the words of the prophets. They were also waiting for a Messiah, and they completely missed that Jesus the Messiah had already come. Look at his miracles, read his teachings, these are not the actions or words of a mere man. Jesus is the very word of God, and he has changed my life. He can change yours, too.”
“We do believe that he was a great prophet,” they said, “and that he did many great things, but we also believe in the 12 Imams, and that Jesus wasn’t the final prophet.”
I told them I am praying for Jesus to reveal to them who he is. I also encouraged them to pray and ask Jesus to show them who he is. Later in the evening, shortly before I left, the family shared the hard news that they were leaving our city and moving to another location. They had been struggling here and had not been able to get any assistance from the government because of their legal status.
This was sad news for me as I was just starting to connect well with them, sharing deep matters of the heart. As I was driving home from the visit, I prayed for God to draw this family to himself. I ask you to join me in praying for them, and, that wherever they end up living, they would come to faith in the one true God.
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