Lately, Muslims have become the trending topic worldwide. Terrorists, hijabs, immigrants, Eid, Islamophobia, the ISIS…the list goes on and on. And before you put a label on me – no, I am not “Islamophobic”. I do not have an extreme or irrational fear of Muslims. Some of my best friends throughout school and college, in fact, have been Muslim. My point is, I do not consider Muslims a threat, rather an opportunity. God loves and wants everyone to be saved, including my Muslim friends.
So this “controversial” post is for anyone who might be sincerely confused or in search of the truth about Christianity and religion.
It all begins in the book of Genesis, chapter 16. But first, here’s a bit of background. Abram (who will later be called Abraham) had just been promised, by the Creator Himself, a nation of children, more numerous than the stars in the sky or the sand on the shore.
The problem? Abram was not what you’d call young. He was 80 odd years old. And his wife, not much younger, still had not given him a son. So they took things into their own hands. Abram and Sarai decided to get a child through Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian maid. Talk about God helping those who help themselves. Just kidding, He doesn’t. He helps those who CANNOT help themselves. Anyway, the son born to Abram and Hagar was Ishmael, to whom most Muslims will trace back their spiritual heritage, if not their physical.
Now Ishmael was cursed, rather than blessed. Yes, God did say he’d have numerous descendants. But that was followed by:
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers.”
And needless to say, the Middle East today is living proof of that verse.
And so, Abram and Sarai learned their lesson and faithfully trusted in God’s promise. And sure enough, when Abraham was at the ripe young age of 100, God gave him a son through his 90-year-young wife. A feat possible only by God, not by the willpower or intervention of man. This son was Isaac, through whom the nation of Israel was born.
What I want to draw from this little history lesson is an important truth: there are only two ways to receive God’s promise of salvation – the right way, and the wrong way.
The wrong way, or man’s way, is when we try to achieve what is supernatural using what is natural. In easy English, it’s when we try to build a ladder to heaven. We occupy ourselves with creating ways to “right our wrongs”, by fasting, praying, giving to charity, going on pilgrimages, going to a temple, mosque or church, and essentially trying our hardest to outweigh the bad with the good.
We created religion. A religion that fits our finite imagination and requirements, whilst trying to tackle the ways of an infinite God.
But the bad news is, all of our works are useless and reek of sin. It’s like trying to clean a window pane with soiled rags.
Good intentions, dirty hands.
We are all sinners. Every day we do things that someone we look up to wouldn’t approve of.
What if that someone was a holy, blameless, and just God? A God who created and gave us the choice to obey or disobey Him, who now watches us as we choose to disobey Him by following our own paths and ignoring His. It’s no wonder our Creator has eternal death waiting for us. For the wages of sin is death, and boy, have we earned it.
What is wonderful is the fact that He also gave us a way out.
The right way, or God’s way, is Jesus Christ. God came down to us because He knew there was no way we would reach up to Him. Christ took our death sentence and paid for it with His own innocent life, just so we’d be pardoned. But it didn’t end there – He rose again and defeated death, proving He was not just a man with a big heart, but our Saviour God with a forgiving heart. He did everything for us on that cross. All we have to do is trust in Him and His work.
It’s so simple. Simple, but not easy which is what makes it so hard for us to accept God’s solution; to accept Christ – the only way, the only truth, and our only hope of life. But I hope it isn’t too hard for you, dear reader.
THE RELEVANT REBEL 
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