What is a Christian? Who get to call themselves “Christ-followers?” What are the absolute essentials, the non-negotiable aspects, beliefs and behaviors of Christianity? The story below is one possible answer to this complicated question.
I recently received an email from some special friends of mine, Anya and Sergey, who live in in a country with a predominantly Muslim population and who seek to offer the words of grace about the good news of Jesus Christ. Anya was telling me about her passion to serve Muslim women and her decision to learn more about their faith before asking them to learn about her own religious life. She wrote to me about a woman who grew up in a Muslim family, strictly practicing all the requirements of that faith, including the extensive fast during Ramadan and the wearing of the all-covering robes. As Anya came to know this woman, she also read a book called Waging Peace on Islam. The author, Christine Mallouhi, is a Christian woman living with her Muslim family in the Middle East. Mallouhi writes:
…our religious traditions are not the Gospel and may actually have little relationship to the Gospel message and even be obscuring it. Following Christ does not mean joining the Christian culture… It does not require leaving one’s family and people. To follow Christ does not require one to take a new Christian name, or to wear a different style of clothing. Nor does it require using the symbol of the cross, nor worshiping on a certain day, nor a certain style of worship… It does not require adopting new wedding, birth or death traditions. Nor does it require eating different foods, … or celebrating certain holidays. …None of these cultural expressions are essential to following Christ.
After a recent conversation with her Muslim friend, Anya wrote this: “Imagine my surprise when towards the end of our meeting she told me that she came to this lesson to tell me that she couldn’t call herself a Christian, because in her culture and her family being a Christian had a very negative meaning (associated with the Russian culture and the Russian Orthodox church). She reassured me that she relied on Jesus, the Son of God in her salvation and that she was very relieved to know that following Him did not require betraying her family. She left home hoping to talk to her old grandmother about Jesus and her eternal hope in Him. Her grandmother is a practicing Muslim who does all the things that Quran requires, and does this all because of the fear of punishment from Allah if she doesn’t.”
Anya concluded, “If our conversation happened a year ago I would be considering this friend a Muslim who doesn’t want to follow Jesus at all costs, but now I’m able to see that Jesus accepts every person who comes to him with repentance and trust and not just those who follow the set rules that I’m familiar with or used to.”
I so much like what Anya wrote here. She is looking upon the heart, bypassing the externals which most of us focus on. Anya newly discerning eyes saw a repentant heart, trusting in Jesus for forgiveness and wholeness and she rejoiced–for this young woman has been found.
Who is a Christian? Is it those who look the part, following the external signs of the faith, sporting Christian symbols, carrying their Bibles, dressing in certain patterns, following a set of rules that define it? Sometimes yes. And sometimes no. Ultimately, the question must go much deeper: Do we have hearts so transformed by grace that we willingly follow Jesus where ever that may lead? Do we take up our cross daily? Do we love our enemies and go the second mile for them? Do we forgive as we wish to be forgiven? Frankly, it’s easier to stick to the externals. But it is the internal life that opens the door to the heavenly places.
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