At age 9, I went to a church camp and learned that I needed to invite Jesus to come into my heart so that my sins would be forgiven.
Later, I heard a Sunday school teacher tell my class that Jesus leaves our hearts when we behave wrongly.
Sadly, I believed her. I became scared and confused. And every night for the next 12 years, I re-invited Jesus to come back into my heart—because I sinned every day.
Later, I learned that my real problem was that I wasn’t believing the truth about salvation. I started reading God’s Word. Nowhere in the Bible could I find my Sunday school teacher’s rules about Jesus entering and exiting my heart based on my good or bad deeds.
But the Bible did show me that God takes sin seriously and that He’s also in control of the world and His children. My perspective started shifting away from seeing myself as the center of the universe around which everyone else (including Jesus) orbited. I began to see that God was not going to be controlled by either my sin or good deeds. And He was fully capable and willing to complete the good work of transformation He had started in me.
I look back at those years and realize what I believed wasn’t far from what many Muslims believe. It turns out I was a lot like a Muslim.
Muslims believe God exists and that He can forgive them. But they’re not certain He will. So, they pray, fast, give to the poor, and try to do more good than bad—hoping for a pardon from sin at the very end.
Recently, I read about a Muslim woman’s desperate plea for reassurance of God’s forgiveness. She was told that doing good deeds might wipe out sins. If that failed, her sins could also be purged through the squeezing torment and terror that happen in the grave.
Like so many other Muslims, the woman was admonished to suspend herself between fear and hope—instead of seeking assurance of her salvation.
Reading these words, I am grateful to be part of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with Muslims. It’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16)—including men, women, and children from Muslim lands.
- Ask God to give you a fresh revelation of how Jesus has dealt with your sins, forgiven you, and promised to be with you forever.
- Pray for Muslims to be freed from seeking salvation and forgiveness apart from Christ.
- Ask the Lord to raise up more laborers to go and share the Good News with Muslims in their heartlands.
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Rostam remains trapped in the frightening belief that his deeds determine how pleased or angry God is with him. To discover what Muslims like Rostam truly believe about sin and forgiveness, click the button below.
**This account comes from a Frontiers worker.**
Main photo by Adam Cohn
Original article: https://www.frontiersusa.org/blog/how-i-was-like-a-muslim