We are sharing this planet with people of many different beliefs and religious preferences. Sometimes, it can feel like a very dark place, but we are all living in this space together.
We have not yet been called out of it, but rather we have been instructed, through the word to be ‘in the world but not of the world.’ So, we must live alongside people who believe all sorts of different things, but we must not partake in these things that they believe.
And according to your own personal level of faith, you can determine how much you would like to interact with or know about these other religions or beliefs.
I have always been rather dogmatic in my Christian faith. I think that came from being brought up in a very conservative Baptist Church, but people and churches are changing all the time. They are choosing to make an effort to understand people of other faiths rather than discount them completely. How else are we supposed to reach the lost.
I have just returned from a business trip with my husband where we were calling on a Muslim client. In our farewell moment, our client extended his hand to my husband for a farewell handshake. In a display of confidence, I stepped forward to shake his hand as well. At this point, there was a little bit of a dance. I stepped forward, he stepped back, I put out my hand and he kind of gestured with a wave. So, I stepped further forward and he retreated yet again with another wave to my outstretched hand. And then, to prevent any further awkwardness, he came towards us and explained that it is against his ‘religion’ to touch another woman, even in a hand-shake, aside from his wife. He was very kind in his explanation and we assured him that we totally understood.
As Christians, we have an understanding of the Law of God and although we no longer live under the law, we understand another religions desire to do what their law tells them to do, even in these modern times.
But I thought about our conversation all afternoon and all the way home on the plane. I thought about the Muslims powerful outward statements of religion versus our relationship with God. I hadn’t said anything to him about my beliefs. I wish I had said that I love the Lord and wish to live in a way that is pleasing to him just as he wants to please Allah. But, regretfully, I never said anything. I don’t think it would have changed anything if I had spoken out, but it certainly has got me thinking – a lot – about our faith and how we life alongside those of other faiths.
I encountered a second faith issue that same night when I began reading a book a friend of mine lent me about ‘horse therapy’. The friend is not a Christian but knows and respects my firm beliefs. Although it is not a religious book, it continually makes reference to ‘the universe’, to past and future lives and to messages coming from the universe, through the horses to the person in therapy.
Of course, I don’t believe any of it, but I do believe that God can impact peoples lives through many different things, even animals. Animals are very perceptive and non-judgmental. They don’t form opinions according to people’s appearances or past mistakes. So, a horse can make someone feel safe and accepted, in spite of their brokenness – and I would like to use that space as a place where God can move and impact the persons life.
You may be asking ‘Where am I going with all of this?’ Well, I am sharing the conversations that have rolling around in my head over the past few days.
I have a business called Heartland Adventure which offers all sorts of outdoor adventures for kids. The company logo has a cross in the middle, which has made many people think that it is a ‘church’ program and in some cases taken away from the appeal of the program.
My reason for the cross in the logo is that it was a God-inspired venture and He is in the very center of it, just as He is in the very center of my life. He is the source of all my creativity, resources and even the provider of the land which we use.
I trust and believe that if I call on God to be present in all that I do, His love and presence can and will impact the lives of those around me. It’s really hard to share our Christianity when we are constantly being told that everyone has a right to believe what they want, and we should not push our religion on them or their kids.
But we can pray for them, and trust that God will intervene.
And we can live our lives in a way that shows Gods love and patience and kindness.
And we can testify of Gods goodness in our lives.
No-one can take these things away from us.
But how do we do this effectively?
We do it by living in an ongoing relationship with God. He wants us to be confident of who He is in our lives especially when we are surrounded by others who do not share our beliefs.
We must never feel alone, because we are never alone.
We are in a living relationship with a loving God who is full of Mercy, full of Grace and perfect in Justice.
You see, the thing about us humans, is that we are doers. We need to do something in order to feel good about it. That’s what makes other religions easy. They are based on the doing, or the rituals rather than the relationship. But with Christianity, there is no doing.
We are called to live by one law only – LOVE!
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength and Love your neighbour as yourself”
Christianity is all about relationship. And everything else just happens. We are impacted and changed through our relationship with God.
All our ‘doing’ will not alter the essence of who we are, but a relationship with God will change how we relate to God and how we relate to others and this will not only change us, but it will change the world around us too!
Romans 12:1-2 The Message (MSG)
Place Your Life Before God
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.