Saved by Grace

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrew 4:16)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my followers who are reading my blog, I hope it encourages you as it does to me. The Word of God is a true blessing to those who take time to let the Word talks to them. 

My story:

I was raised in a sound religious environment; I was told to obey God and my parents and do good. This pattern is replicated in the religions I would embrace in my life. I was born as a Tamil girl and did all the good works, pilgrimage, fasting and prayers and was an obedient daughter and respect the authority at school. Then I married a Muslim and followed Islam which taught me a lot of good stuffs and I followed the pillars of the religion and was fearful of displeasing Allah. 

In 2010 I surrendered my life to Jesus and accepted Him as my Saviour. Christianity tells a totally different story. God loves me and He gives me salvation for eternity when I understand my sin status without Him and believe in His Son who died for me. There were no requirements to observe the law or follow any precepts. As I continued to invest in this relationship, I found peace and tranquillity of knowing that God loves me and has adopted me as his daughter, and he became my Father. That is a major difference from Hinduism and Islam where God is not a father but a sovereign being. The relationship with God had changed. 

My journey:

I would like to share that portion of the Bible1 that changed my life; my quest to please God became my desire to know more of a God who wants to call me his daughter. Just imagine that I am a child of God; a child of the creator of the universe. That changes my identity, my confidence, my language and my place in the world. 

The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians became an eye opener for me. Paul became very critical to his audience and chastises the Galatians and provides numerous reasons why they should return to the truth. The doctrinal thrust of this epistle gives it a strong internal unity, everything in the epistle is related to Paul’s defence of justification by faith alone. Here Paul bluntly expose the Galatians and rebuke them for promoting false doctrine. The feature of the letter shows the literary contrasts: the true gospel vs a false gospel, faith vs works, law vs grace, liberty vs legalism, sonship vs slavery and the fruits of the Spirit vs the desire of the flesh (this study will be shared in a future blog). 

The gospel is the good news that God is with us. With Christ, we have been adopted as sons and daughters of God the Father.2 In Hinduism and Islam, we make blood sacrifice to cover our sins and those are done either yearly at Eid ul Ada in Islam or temporarily to the Gods in Hinduism. And once these sacrifices are made, we hope that God will forgive us and give us a better year. In the New Testament of the Bible, we are told that we are justified by faith in Christ.3 It took me a while to understand this statement. The Bible says that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. 

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is the perfect man and perfect God. He is man and God. His nature is sinless and divine. He becomes the perfect sacrifice when he died on the cross. His blood had to be shed just like in the blood sacrifice of animals in Islam and Hinduism. The Bible says that the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to us, that means that the perfect nature of Jesus is transferred to us when we accept him as our Saviour. We make this commitment by faith alone. We are not required to do any work to stay ‘saved’. Faith is the instrument by which we are linked to the righteousness of Christ. It is the conduit through which His righteousness is given to us. The moment someone has faith in the Word of God, he/she receives through it the righteousness of Christ and is justified. 

Hence the righteousness by which we are justified is something already accomplished by Jesus and the Apostle Paul goes on to say that the only thing for me to do to receive the benefit of that righteousness is to put my trust in it, rely upon it, grasp it in faith, and embrace it humbly, receiving this free gift of justification by relying on Jesus and Him alone. That is what is meant by justification by faith alone. 

That understanding transformed my perspective of my identity in the eyes of God and in the world. I am justified and God sees me as His daughter. That great transformation prompts me to do what is right in the eyes of God. I am obeying all his laws and commandments because I am loved by Him. Obeying God does not become a duty or an order and I am not afraid to displease God anymore because my identity as a child means that I can have a conversation with God and He is helping me on that journey to be like His first born son Jesus Christ; perfect when I die. 

Comparison Grid⁴ between the three religions I followed:

Term	Christianity	Hinduism	Islam
God	Personal (1 John 4:8)5	Impersonal	God is known as Allah; he is one person a strict unity. He is the creator of the universe (3:191), sovereign overall (6:61-62).
Humanity	Made in God’s image in distinction from the rest of creation (Genesis 1:27)6. This does not mean that God has a body, but that man is made like God in abilities (reason, faith, love, etc)	Extended from Being of God	Not made in the image of God (42:11). Man is made from the dust of the earth (23:12) and Allah breathed life into man (32:9; 15:29).
Original Sin	Moral Rebellion	Ignorance	There is no original sin. All people are sinless until they rebel against God. They do not have sinful natures.
Salvation	A free gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9)7 to the person who trusts in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. He is our mediator (I Timothy 2:5)8. No works are sufficient in any way to merit salvation since our works are all unacceptable to God (Isaiah 64:6)9.	Liberation from illusion and ignorance	Forgiveness of sins is obtained by Allah’s grace without a mediator. The Muslim believe Allah exists, believe in the fundamental doctrines of Islam, believe that Muhammad is his prophet, and follow the commands of Allah given in the Koran.
Jesus	God the Son, unique and eternal (1 John 1:1)10	One among many gods	A literal son of God. Therefore, Jesus cannot be the son of Allah.
Number of Gods	One (Isaiah 43:10)	Many	One

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, for too long I’ve kept you out of my life. I know that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. No longer will I close the door when I hear you knocking. By faith I gratefully receive your gift of salvation. I am ready to trust you as my Lord and Saviour. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming to earth. I believe you are the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead on the third day. Thank you for bearing my sins and giving me the gift of eternal life. I believe your words are true. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and be my Saviour. Amen.

Bibliography:

1. Galatians 3:1: You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

2. Ephesians 1:5: he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will

3. Romans 5:1: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

4. Compact guide to World Religions (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1996, p. 92)

5. 1 John 4:8: Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

6. Genesis 1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

7. Ephesians 2:8-9: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

8. I Timothy 2:5: For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,

9. Isaiah 64:6: All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

10. 1 John 1:1: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. 

Quran Ref:

• 3:191: You did not create this aimlessly; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of the Fire.
• 6:61-61: And He is the subjugator over His servants, and He sends over you guardian-angels until, when death comes to one of you, Our messengers take him, and they do not fail [in their duties]. Then they His servants are returned to Allah, their true Lord. Unquestionably, His is the judgement, and He is the swiftest of accountants.
• 42:11: [He is] Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you from yourselves, mates, and among the cattle, mates; He multiplies you thereby. There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
• 23:12: And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay.
• 32:9 & 15:29: Then He proportioned him and breathed into him from His [created] soul and made for you hearing and vision and hearts; little are you grateful. And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration.