A Truth That Disrupts

“You’re a Muslim, right?” my colleague Jamila asked me.

“I’m a follower of Jesus,” I replied.

“But you seem so much like a Muslim,” Jamila insisted. She stared at me with intelligent brown eyes.

“I love God, and I also pray, fast, and serve the poor—just as Muslims are instructed to do,” I explained to her. “And I read the Bible, the Holy Book.”

“You read the Holy Book?” Jamila asked, studying my face. “What does it say about Him?”

“Which him do you mean?” I asked.

“You read the Holy Book? What does it say about Him?”

“Jesus,” she replied as she stepped closer to me, as if to make our conversation more private.

Silently, I thanked God for yet another opportunity to share Christ with someone who, her entire life, had been hearing things about Him that aren’t true.

Like most Muslims, Jamila is flooded every day with repeated messages that run counter to the Gospel. But my teammates and I take every opportunity, with love and respect, to disrupt the repetition by sharing Jesus Christ.

Jamila is flooded every day with repeated messages that run counter to the Gospel.

“Our Holy Book teaches that Jesus Christ is God, visiting the earth,” I said. “He lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, and rose from the dead on the third day to open the doors of Heaven for us.”

“So, you believe He died?” Jamila asked.

“Yes, that is what God’s Word teaches. And He rose from the dead on the third day and is in Heaven now.”

“He rose from the dead?” Jamila looked surprised. She’d never heard this part of the story before.

I gave Jamila a moment to sit with this truth.

Then, mysteriously, she said, “I accept everything.” She walked out of the room, down the hallway, and straight out the front door without a word to anyone else.

I take every opportunity, with love and respect, to disrupt the repetition by sharing Jesus Christ.

Muslims hold Jesus in high regard. The Quran describes His virgin birth and has accounts of some of His miracles. It even says He is the Word of God.

But Muslims consider His death and crucifixion to be heretical. They say God would never allow a great prophet to die in such a horrible way. They insist that Jesus was raised to heaven without ever dying. And so, they are missing out on our eternal hope in Christ’s triumphant resurrection from death.