Issue 11, Aug 2008
How does the Muslim Faith differ from the Christian Faith on the basic questions of life and death? We continue to explore some of the fundamental differences. Our prayer is that we will see clearly the differences and be strengthened in our Christian Faith.

 

This month we ask: How does God connect with me?

 

The Qur’an reveals that Allah has chosen some to life and some to death. One is totally dependent on the determinate will of Allah (Surah 39:68-69). However, a person is also held accountable. Allah reveals himself through the Qur’an. One’s final destiny is in great uncertainty.

 

The Bible reveals that the Lord God of Abraham “connected” with me by himself becoming a human being. He passionately pursued me while I was still far from him. The great wonder is that God’s heart is filled with such intense love for me that he gives his one and only Son that “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, came seeking, saving, calling, and beckoning me as his sheep to come back to him. This he did long before I came to faith or did acts of obedience, piety, or charity. As the Lord God says, “I was found by those who did not seek me. I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me” (Rom 10:20).

 

This great love for me, expressed in the Shepherd becoming the sacrificial Lamb, is so powerfully seen on the cross that, as a magnet, it draws me to himself in faith (Jn 12:32).

 

Here is how it works.

 

In the Gospels, I view the acts of those who betray Jesus, deny him, condemn him, abuse him, speak ill of him, and fail to defend him. In their acts I see the greatness of my own sin. Nevertheless, in the person of Christ, in his resolute love, in his patient suffering, in his strong determination, in his offering himself as the atoning sacrifice, in his words, “Father forgive them,” I see that “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Rom 5:20 NIV). Drawn to that cross, I am moved to repent of my sins and trust in Jesus as my Savior. The love of Christ becomes known to me personally and, in knowing that love, I know the love of God, my Father.

 

Through faith in Christ I am welcomed into a close personal, intimate relationship with God as my Father and I become “the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19). God is my Father and I am his child and heir of eternal life. In the person of his Son my restless heart finds rest, pardon, peace, purpose, wholeness, and hope. Nothing in this life or the next can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior.

 

Because of Christ I now look upon myself and all other human beings differently. Now we are not only precious because we are special creatures of the Lord God, but we are doubly precious because we are redeemed with the priceless blood of the Lamb of God.

 

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Rev. Rick Richter is the author of “The Qur’an and the Bible – A Comparison.” www.Churchpress.com.