Whom Will We Serve
June 16
Monday night ended our study called One in a Million, but I wanted more meat, so I headed directly to the book of Joshua in my Women of Faith Bible and picked up some nuggets I want to share for a few days.
This commentary says the key passage for the book of Joshua is found in verse 24:15
Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living, But for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Sunday night I completed reading a novel called "The Land of the Blue Burqas". I had read this book when it came out a couple years ago, but wanted to read it again after a neighbor shared how if had changed her life. The first time I read it with a hunger to understand the lives of Afghan women more. This time I read with a passion to see how the author shared Christ in a Muslim country. Powerful, powerful.
The Joshua verse, on whom will we serve, combined with this book have me praying in a different vain for non-believers. I want to share simple perspectives from this author's experiences that shed much light into the differences of our faiths.
Only appropriately authorized Muslim scholars or mullahs are permitted to even write verses from the Quran. If you want a verse you have to pay for it to be written down. The average person can't pull out their Quran, highlight verses, jot them down and stick a verse or two in their child's lunchbox.
Christians read scripture for understanding...for truth to speak to us to guide us, strengthen and encourage us. They can't do this.
Also, where we see God as a father, with whom we can have intimate conversation over every detail of our lives through prayer, they do not believe Allah has children.
The Afghan people are not free to study other religions and decided for themselves what they will believe. Owning a Bible would be a crime. Conversion is a crime. One person explained this to the author in this way..."If one man is allowed to become a Christian, then all Afghans will become Christians and we will no longer be a Muslim nation." The whole identity of their country is threatened by the idea of Christianity.
We should pray daily for our religious freedom to continue in this nation and for it to be brought into existence in countries where it is not allowed.
Last night, as we closed out our study, one woman wept as she shared the freedom she has found in life lived for Christ. I pray that would be a revelation for many people today!
In Jesus Name! I love you and He does too.
