How Jesus taught me to love Muslims

This was my first ever conversation with a Muslim—

It started with her asking if she could sit down next to me to say her prayers? Naturally, I said "sure" as I glanced around at all the other empty benches and wondered why here, why me? She starts to pray silently for which I am glad because I had imagined something totally different would take place. I glanced over periodically to see if I could read the prayer coming from her lips. I could not. Then a funny thing happened—I looked over again and she was talking on her phone. 

My thought was, "Muslims are no different than Christians when it comes to interrupting a conversation with God to answer their phones (I hate that about us). My lowered opinion of her piety made me not want to say anything more to her, but my curiosity got the better of me. So I began:

How often do you pray a day? Five times for the ritual prayers and some in-between times for personal needs.

Is it still Ramadan? Yes, for 10 more days. It lasts a month.
And you only eat once a day? You must get hungry. I time my meals to after sunset and before sunrise, so I actually eat two meals with a little water. I thought to myself, "That's just like us Christians always trying to bend the rules."

Then I asked her about those 100 virgins that Muslim suicide bombers claim are awaiting them in heaven. 

Her response surprised me. There are no virgins. We believe that only "virtuous" people will be in heaven. The suicide bombers are being lied to because taking even one innocent life is condemned in the Koran. They won't be in heaven.

Do you think the London fire was set by Muslim extremists? I don't think so because Muslims lived there too. And because many were awake at 1 am in the morning doing their prayers when the fire started. Muslims were able to run door-to-door to alert people of the fire. They helped save many lives. The news media won't tell you that.

Our conversation was interrupted because she had to leave. I had so many more questions I wanted to ask. As she thanked me for letting her sit with me, I had one final question—
Why did you choose this seat? Because when we pray, we have to face east. and you were sitting in the perfect spot. Imagine that?
She then added, You're such a nice person. To which I responded with a smile, "I'm a Christian" (meaning my faith says I should show everyone Christ-like love).
"As-Salaam-Alaikum," I said as we grasped hands. She responded, "Wa-Alaikum-Salaam," conferring peace on each other. If only I had had a few more minutes with her. It's true what they say about Christians— often the only bible some people will ever read is us.

Peace of Mind: Where's the app for that

You may have seen the television commercial featuring a character by the name of "Mayhem" who goes about creating all kinds of trouble for his innocent, unsuspecting victims. After each disaster he causes, Mayhem is heard to say,

"If you had [blank] insurance you'd be protected from mayhem like me."

Most people buy insurance to protect them from the unexpected—a sudden illness, car accident, house fire, travel mishap, and even death. People live each day with the element of surprise hanging over their heads. They leave home each day, drive to work, drop the kids off at school, board buses, trains and planes to go about routine activities— all without any certainty or guarantee of how their day will end.

Like mayhem, there is a real life character who also preys upon the lives of people for no other reason than to harm or defeat us. His name is Satan. You may be familiar with his other names—the devil, the accuser, thief and the father of lies. The bible calls Satan "the god of this world" because he rules earth and is responsible for all the evil and wickedness in the world (2 Corinthians 4:4). You see his influence in people who steal, lie, cheat, quarrel, murder, bully and inflict harm on others (Romans 1:29-32). In the bible Satan is depicted as a roaring lion on the prowl looking for someone to attack (1 Peter 5:8).

Satan could care less whether you are a Christian, some other religion or no religion at all. He's an equal opportunity destroyer who hates God, and wants to destroy everything that God has created. But here's the Good News. the God of the bible provides an insurance policy against Satan's attacks backed by faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. The bible says that Jesus came into the world to destroy the power of the devil over humankind.

God's insurance policy comes with an ironclad guarantee that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). The only stipulation is that you accept the salvation that Jesus' death and resurrection provides. God's insurance policy is activated by saying a simple prayer like this:

Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. Please forgive my sins, come into my heart and help me live the rest of my life for you.  

If you recited the prayer and meant it with all your heart, starting now whenever mayhem strikes, you'll have peace of mind knowing God's got you covered.

The Big Lie

I told a lie. It slipped out my mouth so fast, I didn't have time to shut it. It was shocking. Can you believe it? Me, a born again Christian, telling a lie? God forbid. The instant that lie left my lips, two things happened—Satan cheered and heaven   groaned. Immediately, the Holy Spirit convicted me. There I was caught between that lie and what I knew would be its consequences.     The battle for my soul was just beginning to heat up.

I had Satan, in one ear telling me, “Oh come on now, it wasn’t even a big lie. Besides, it didn’t hurt anyone now did it? And the Holy Spirit in the other ear softly pleading, “The lie you just told wounded the heart of God, your Father. You must confess it.” I was crushed under the weight of my guilt at the very thought that my actions could possibly have hurt God.

This was major and not something I could easily dismiss, as Satan had tempted me to do. I knew that if I listened to Satan and just let it go, he would dig in even deeper, and establish a stronghold in my mind from which he could manipulate my thoughts. This little lie, as unintended as it was, was now beginning to take on huge proportions as the battle for my soul continued. Satan fired another shot, this time a direct hit at my pride: “You don’t want people to know that you, of all people, tell lies do you?

There goes your witness and your testimony. What will people think of you? You better keep it under wraps. It’ll just be our little secret,” Satan said with a wink. The thought was a tempting for a minute. But I knew that it was a lie straight from the pit of Hell. Imagine the father of lies trying to convince me that he could keep a secret.

The Holy Spirit countered Satan’s onslaught by bringing to this battle for my mind every scripture from the word of God that I'd ever memorized. I remembered that God hates liars. Revelation 21:8 says that liars will be judged and tossed into the lake of fire—a place especially prepared for them. Also in this fiery lake will be the cowards who have turned away from God, unbelievers, murderers, and persons who are corrupt, sexually immoral, who practice witchcraft and worship idols. Talk about being in bad company.

I was beginning to realize the enormity of what I had done. There was only one way to get Satan off my back and God back on my side—I had to confess. Without further delay, I dropped to my knees and prayed, “Father, forgive me, the lie I told was a sin. It was wrong and I am truly sorry.” Well, that was just the beginning of my restoration. Later, I went back to the one I told the lie to and confessed.

I guess the lesson in all this is that Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven. As long as we are on this earth, we will be tempted, and we may even succumb in a moment of weakness. Even Jesus was tempted but he handled it God's way. Rather than hide from our sin like Adam did or try to cover it up like King David did, we should confess it directly to God and ask for His forgiveness. He offers this promise in 1 John 1:9 to both Christians who sin and the unsaved sinner alike: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” It sure feels good to be forgiven.

If there is sin in your life that Satan has convinced you is just between you and him, he's lying. Sin is really between you and God. There’s no such thing as a white lie or a little sin. Big or small, it’s all sin. And God hates it. To add to sin's consequences, it blocks your blessings and hinders your prayers so that God will not hear you. Don’t let Satan fool you. For your own good, confess your sins and be set free. Jesus died for my sins and yours so that by believing in him, we can be forgiven and have eternal life. By the way, if you’re wondering if I made this story up, absolutely not. It’s a true story, no lie.