This month I have been reading the book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi and have been enthralled by his writing and how he came to know the Lord through trying to prove that his religion (Islam) was the right religion over Christianity. It is a phenomenal book and I suggest that everyone reads it.
This book was recommended to me by one of our squad leaders as a way to understand how to speak to, and love on those of the Islamic faith. However, this book turned into something much more then that for me.
Growing up in a Christian home I didn’t really start out my walk with the Lord by having to dig deep as to why I believed what I believed. It was really all I had ever known, and I am so thankful for the way that I was raised. I was raised to love the Lord, but I would say that when I got into my teen years I was a very lukewarm Christian because I didn’t ever have to defend what I believed nor did I ever really take the time to share with others.
When I got to college I had to start looking more into what I believed because there was no way I would be able to share my faith with anyone with where I was in my faith at that point. I read my bible, prayed, and worshiped over the years and I would say the people who knew me would believe that I was a pretty good Christian, but deep down I knew my relationship was no where near where it needed to be.
I am now past that point in my life, and I’ll be honest, there are still days where I have to work hard to want to be in the word. But this book has made me really think about my life, and others’ lives as Christians in America.
Now, before I start this I want to preface by saying I am not trying to say that all American Christians struggle with the things I am about to say, I am just bringing to light what I have seen, and read, and relating it to what I believe I, and others need to grow in.
Being on the race I have come to really dislike how in the past at camps or church we tell people that accepting Jesus comes by just saying one “easy” prayer, when in fact the easy part is the prayer, but we aren’t telling them about the fact that becoming a Christian can actually make life pretty hard at times.
In Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus Nabeel had spent his entire life in extensive studies about his faith and knowing what he believed were the ins and outs of Islam and then had to go against everything he believed in order to become a Christian. He worried he would end up in hell for even questioning his religion in order to find the truth. Sadly he lost his family for a time over his decision to follow God. HIS FAMILY, the ones who had raised him and loved him with all their might were so disappointed in him and his heart was broken. I look at these things he did and wonder do these things seem like they would be easy?
At home our lives as Christians do often look easy when we aren’t being persecuted, but are we not being persecuted because we aren’t sharing out faith or going out of our way to spread God’s word? When will we get to the point of believing that the Lord is worth so much more then us just going to church on Sunday and reading our bibles and praying at bed time? He is worth the work! He is worth spending the extra hour to study his word, to pray for more then five minutes, and to step out of our comfort zones and bring others to his kingdom. HE IS WORTH SO MUCH MORE!
In his second book titled No God But One: Allah or Jesus? Nabeel says,”The God it proclaims is unlike any other, and it is an unfathomable honor that we get to be a part of His story and introduce people to Him.” What an HONOR it is to be asked into the kingdom of Heaven. What an HONOR to be wanted by the Father. What an HONOR to serve him. He doesn’t need us to bring people to his kingdom but he asks us to come alongside him and do this for him. What an HONOR!
In 2017 Nabeel passed away after battling stomach cancer for a year. In his 12 years of being a Christian I believe he did more for the Kingdom then many Christians will do in their entire life, and in his last year of life he continued to share the gospel from his hospital bed through a youtube vlog.
It is time to decide as followers of Christ is it more important for us to fit in our to stand out, are we more focused on the quantity of people that come to Christ or the number of people who become TRUE fishers of men?
