Why Make It More Difficult

Yesterday, someone very near and dear to me stepped out in faith and shared the Gospel with a Muslim friend. The Muslim was confused on a number of basic doctrinal issues that the Christian was able to easily answer and explain. The Muslim was able to share the tenets of the Muslim religion and answer pointed questions about the Islamic faith system. By each person feeling free to share the unique characteristics of their faith a clear distinction was recognized.

Once they got to the grounds for entering into God's presence, the difference was made clear. At this point the doctrine of the atonement of Christ became appealing to the Muslim.

This Muslim person is now planning to attend worship with the Christian and consider the truth claims of the Christian faith.

The question is why? What was different? This Muslim lives where churches are all over the place. Why will the Muslim enter a church now?

Here are some reasons:
1. The Christian had been praying for the Muslim and God is at work.
2. The Christian simply shared the hope of the Christian faith clearly and honestly.
3. The Christian respected the Muslim's intellect and faith tradition and in love and grace shared the truth of Scripture.
4. The Muslim was able to disagree without being attacked and receive answers to questions without being judged.
5. The Christian asked the Muslim to attend and be with the Christian. It is a friend going with a friend to hear what gives them purpose, hope, joy and peace.

The one question the Muslim did have was why the Christians in Florida were burning the book the Muslims hold as sacred. This Muslim did not understand why people that claim to be like Jesus would do that because that did not seem to be the way of Jesus.

The Christian shared that the Muslim was accurate and that Jesus came to share truth in love. As they talked, the Christian was able to explain the way evangelism was done in the Bible showing the love and sacrifice of God's people and assured the Muslim that there are a lot of confused people that do not always honor the name of Jesus even though they claim to speak in His name.

How sad that this Christian in North America had to overcome that last hurdle. The Gospel is offensive and needs to be the only offensive thing about a Christan.

This encounter makes me think about how difficult it will be for the people from my church that are in Muslim nations sharing the Gospel trying to plant churches to be effective. I imagine the greater danger they could be in because of these angry people burning books in Florida. How sad that the Gospel message is being muddied needlessly. Why make it more difficult for Muslims to know the love of Jesus?