I recently visited the house of a man of God for a delicious supper and dangerous prayer meeting. I say "dangerous" because God was really to be found there and one's life could be changed by it. It soon became obvious that he had an uncommon amount of faith in God. But every time someone said something about how inspiring his testimony or his faith was, he would point them back to God. He knew that he himself wasn't great, but the One he had put his faith in was all-great.
After sharing his testimony, he began to talk about how Islam is harmful and threatening and reminded us that we are in a spiritual war against the powers of darkness, to which Islam belongs. Here my mind started to rebel.
"War? Really? That's a strong word. We need to be accepting of Muslims and love them, not wage war against them," I thought. "Doesn't this go against everything that I think about open-mindedness and multiculturalism?"
I struggled internally with this for a while, then found myself thinking about a previous testimony I had heard - from a former Muslim who gave his life to Jesus and now reaches out to his own people with the good news. He talked about God's unconditional love and about how Muslims need Jesus.
Then something clicked inside of my mind. Love. As found in 1 Corinthians 13 and 16:14, 1 John 4:7-21, Matthew 5:42-44 and 22:39, and hundreds of other verses across the Bible. We don't kill and destroy - we forgive and build up. Ours is different kind of war, not a crusade to "kill the infidel". Our war is a war of love. Our weapons are peace, hope, and love (but the greatest of these is love). We don't fight against flesh and blood. In our fight against the darkness, only the Fruit of the Spirit will be effective and only God will conquer.
"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." - 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV
We tear down the walls that divide us - walls of race, colour, ethnic origin, prejudice, pride, hedonism, sorrow, bitterness, anger - and let all men know that God loves them and wants to know them. We replace hatred with divine love. We replace mediocracy and complacency with a passion for Jesus.
That's our war.
On a side note, killing nearly a hundred innocent people in an attempt to protest against Muslims is obviously grossly wrong, and I have no doubts when I say that the terrorist who did this, Mr. Breivik, is not a born-again Christian (in fact, he himself admitted to not having a personal relationship with Christ). Hatred and murder is about as nonChristian as one can get. You shall not murder, says Exodus 20:13. Jesus said to love both our neighbours and our enemies (Matthew 5:43-44). It is my opinion that multiculturalism is the best way to accomplish this, because then people can keep their identities while co-existing with other people in peace. Then when they come to Jesus, they can worship in their own culturally comfortable ways.
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
Now go. Jesus didn't say, "Sit at home and hope someone comes to you to ask you about your faith." He commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations. Whether that means going to the ends of the earth or just reaching out with love to the people in your own town or city, go!
Canada is a multicultural country and embraces all cultures and people from across the world, which adds another dimension to evangelicalism. We have the chance to reach out to people from around the world here in our own country and in our own cities.
So go, and serve in whatever way God wants you to serve. If you are only a teen, know that being a youth is no excuse - read 1 Timothy 4:12 for proof of that. If you are poor, know that God will provide. If you are scared, know that Jesus is with you always, to the very end of the age. If you think that you aren't qualified enough, know that being a child of God is qualification enough.
I've finally reached the point of faith in my life when I can truly say, "Lord, just point me in the right direction. Make it clear where you want me to be, and I promise to do your will."
God is calling you. Will you follow him?
