Several months ago, we hosted a short-term prayer team from the United States and sent them out to pray in provinces where there are no Gospel workers. Now, we were retracing their footsteps and looking for persons of peace—local men and women whom God uses to open doors for the Gospel in their communities.
On our first visit to a small town that the prayer team had visited, my teammate Eric and I met Hodja, the imam of the local mosque. Hodja and his wife, Selma, immediately invited us into their home. As we sat on the floor around a platter of rice and eggplant, they asked us, “Are you Muslims?”
“We’re followers of Jesus,” I replied. They listened carefully as Eric and I shared our testimonies of how we had grown to know and love Christ.
Since that first meal together, we’ve been back to visit Hojda and Selma several times. We discuss Bible stories, talk about Jesus, and pray for the country we live in. During one visit, we began a discussion about forgiveness and eternal salvation.
“We live our lives between hope and fear,” Hodja explained, “hope that God will forgive our sins, and fear that our righteous acts won’t be enough to save us from hell. God will probably forgive some of our sins. But we can never know if we have performed enough righteous acts to balance out our unforgiven sins.”
“Even our prophet Muhammad was unsure of his salvation,” Selma added. “So how could we be any more certain of our own?”
“If forgiveness rests on our own efforts to be righteous,” I answered, “then we should indeed be very afraid.”
“Yes! Yes!” our hosts nodded eagerly. “You understand!”
“But,” I added, “what about God’s honor?” Hodja and Selma stared at me in confusion. I started to pull out my wallet and continued, “You have welcomed us into your home for many delicious meals. What if I were to offer to pay you for the food?”
“Impossible!” Hodja said, anxiously waving the wallet away. “Do not insult us. Hospitality is our gift to you.”
“But might it be that you are rejecting God’s kindness in the same way?” I asked. “You call Him generous, loving, and merciful. But then you try to offer Him some meager payment for His forgiveness.”
“It is not the same thing,” Hodja replied.
“Jesus Christ taught that it is,” I pressed. “He taught that forgiveness is to be accepted, not earned. It is a wonderful gift He came to give.”
“But without fear,” Selma protested with alarm, “who will strive to be righteous?”
The good news for Hodja and Selma is that Jesus Christ came so that those who believe will be found righteous through Him (Romans 3:22).
But like so many Muslims, Hodja and Selma’s hearts are caught between hope and fear. The free gift of righteousness seems too good to be true. Join us in continuing to pray for them—that Jesus Christ would break the strongholds that are keeping them from knowing the truth of the Gospel and the hope of eternity.
- Pray that Hodja and Selma will continue to engage with stories from God’s Word and be drawn to the glorious hope of the Savior.
- Ask God to remove whatever is blinding them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4).
- Pray for many more Frontiers teams to go and share with Muslims the good news of forgiveness, freedom from fear, and the hope of eternal life.
**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.**
Main photo by Evan Bench
Original article: FrontiersUSA.org/blog/article/between-hope-and-fear