(This blog asks a lot of questions. But all are meant to be heard with the love and respect that I have for you, my Muslim readers.)
Dear Muslim friends:
Why do you serve Allah?
Why do you obey Him?
Why do you say the creed (shahada), pray (salat as well as duas), give alms (zakat), fast (sawm during Ramadan or other times), or do pilgrimage (Hajj or Umrah) to Mecca?
What is the main reason?
What is the deepest motivation for these and other Muslim religious practices?
Obligation – duty?
Guilt – to cover or make up for past disobedience or failures or sins?
Peer pressure from fellow Muslims – family, friends, imams?
Fear of the Day of Judgment?
Fear of hellfire. . .for any amount of time?
To gain or earn enough points for Paradise?
Because He is God and you are His servant?
I have thought of very similiar questions to these many times in my own life. I am not just asking you.
Why do I stive to serve and obey my Creator?
Why do I try to live a righteous life?
Why?
May I suggest to you that there is one motive that should be the ultimate purpose in our heart of hearts to serve and obey God.
It is love. . .
Simply. . .love.
Jesus said:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (the Injeel, Mark 12:30).
Jesus also said:
“If you love me, keep my commands” (the Injeel, John 14:15).
“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me” (John 14:21).
“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching” (John 14:23).
“We love him, because he first loved us. . .” (the Injeel, 1 John 4:19)
So. . .to ask the question again, “Why do you serve Allah?”
And. . .“Why do I serve my Creator?”
There is one answer that shows many answers to be false and far surpasses all that are right.
Love. . .
Simply. . .love.
Wow that was powerful. I think it’s great to ask those questions and get everyone on the same page, I have wondered about those questions as well. I think we all need to be educated on what other people’s customs are, as many Americans are likely unaware of what being a Muslim entails and that only widens the bridge between us. Love should be the primary motivating factor for religion, I couldn’t agree more!
JJ,
Thanks for responding to the post!
Young man, may you love and follow Jesus with all your heart. May you love people and tell them about this great savior.
Nothing else is worth living for. Nothing else is real love.
Wow, even as a Christian who’s been studying the bible for years and trying to develop my relationship with God, love wouldn’t really have crossed my mind straight away if someone asked me that question.
You’ve summed it up very well, God is Love!
Everything we receive from God all begins with His love for us, if He loved us then we should love Him in the same way a child loves their parents because their parents loved them 1st even before they knew what love was.
The best way to show your love for God is to obey His commandments which He made simple to follow through the teachings of His son Jesus Christ. The greatest act of love that we received from God is when He allowed His son, Jesus Christ the word of God made flesh, to die for all of us on the cross. This great act of love often goes unappreciated even by the most devout followers of Christ.
I pray that one day, the whole world will feel and witness God’s love for us, but it all begins with loving each other no matter what race, religion and class we are, as this will lead all of us to the Lord our Creator.
Marvin,
So glad you found my blog? How did that happen?
Yes, love is the foundation of all the commands of God. Love sums them all up.
Let us love Him with all our hearts. . .and our neighbors as ourselves.
Also a note to any muslims reading this or just people in general…
We need to understand what the term son of God means. God does not have a literal son otherwise it would suggest that God needed to conceive.
We call jesus the son of God because he was born by a miraculous birth where God breathed His spirit (Holy Spirit) into Mary’s womb. Jesus had a mother but no earthly father, so ‘son of God’ reminds us that Jesus had no earthly father, except he came directly from God. He is essentially a spirit from or of God in a human body, an easier phrase to understand would be the word of God but nonetheless Jesus is divine whatever way you look at it.
And also the difference between Adam and Jesus is that Adam was created from dust (Genesis 2:7), whereas Jesus was blown into Mary’s womb with no dust.
Marvin, thanks for reading? How did you find my blog?
Yes, you are so right. Jesus is not God’s son in a physical relationship. Nor was he formed on earth in any physical relationship between God and Mary – God forbid! Rather, the term, “Son of God,” refers to a spiritual relationship between God and Jesus.
Jesus is called the Word of God (Kalimatullah) and the Spirit of God (Ruhullah) in the Qur’an. How can you distinguish between a person and his word? How can you distinguish between a person and his spirit?
And. . .how can a man – albeit a great Prophet – have titles like these? Wouldn’t this be blasphemy unless it was true? These titles are not ordinary. They are majestic! They exalt Jesus incredibly!
I have to say, the absolute uniqueness of Jesus in both the Qur’an and the Bible is amazing!
Hello thanks for the reply, I came across it when I was searching links about islam and christianity.
Although I read the bible often and pray everyday, I’ve been struggling to see where the truth lies and whether God is guiding us all regardless of our religion.
So this site has helped me a lot, I randomly saw it on a google search a while ago
Marvin,
So glad you stumbled upon my blog through a google search. I think it was divine providence – God at work!
You said you have been “struggling to see where the truth lies.” Marvin, one thing I try to do on this blog is point to Jesus. Not religion. Jesus. Jesus made the most amazing claims about himself – about his identity – and this is one of the most amazing of them all:
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” (The Good News of John, 14:6)
Amazing!
Who would make that kind of claim for himself? You would have to be a liar or a lunatic. Good moral teachers don’t say things like that, right? Prophets – as holy as they might be – don’t say things like that either.
But Jesus. . .Jesus said it.
And Jesus didn’t just point the way to truth like so many other religious figures in history have attempted to do. No, he said he IS truth.
Stick with Jesus, Marvin. Read his words, obey them, and find eternal life.
Religion isn’t the answer. Jesus is the answer. Jesus is. . .truth.
Just want to add, may God bless and strengthen u in your ministry. Isaiah 40:30-31:
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
I have many muslim friends and I’ve tried to show them about christianity because many muslims have a terrible misunderstanding of it, however I was the one who nearly got swayed into islam until the Holy Spirit brought me back, that’s when I truly believed that God is working in my life through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Your ministry is a difficult one so i congratulate u for what u do, I’ve learnt to not rely on my own decisions and understandings but have faith in God and He will guide me through Christ who gives me strength
Marvin, thanks so much for the encouraging words from the prophet Isaiah!
So glad you have Muslim friends. I wish every Christian did! The Muslims I know are wonderful people.
You wrote of nearly being swayed into Islam. No matter how long I do this blog, my hope is to sway people in only one direction. Toward Jesus.
We can argue and debate and then argue and debate some more about “religion” – which is better, which is growing faster, who has the most “converts,” etc. I just don’t want to do that. It just creates higher walls between us. It fosters a spirit of egotistical competition rather than a spirit of humility and genuine love and respect.
Besides, it is my firm belief that “religion” can’t save anyone. Following the rules, keeping the rituals, obeying the commands – no one can do it perfectly. We are all lost. We are all guilty before God. We need someone to rescue us from the sea of sin we are all drowning in. Someone strong enough to rescue all of us if we will just hear his voice and grab the hand that is reaching out to us. Jesus is strong enough to save us and he is reaching out his hand.
So, Marvin, I just hope you will always be swayed – to Jesus.
You are absolutely right, thank you for your encouraging words.
May God continue to bless you and everyone who reads this blog.
It’s true that arguments and debates solve nothing and will only continue to go in circles, leaving neither group satisfied. All we need to do is find peace and truth which is what Jesus brings to us, because as you rightly said no-one can follow the rules perfectly not even some of the great kings and prophets before Jesus such as David, Solomon, etc.
I hope many more people will find this blog and that they may find peace in Jesus the Messiah
Thank you, Marvin. My passion is just to exalt, lift up, promote Jesus. Not to “convert” anyone. Not to get anyone to “change their religion.” I don’t think Jesus came to “start a new religion” but to show us the way into the Kingdom of God. And that way is simply. . .himself! He is the gate, the door into Heaven.