A Christian by the Grace of God and Reaching the Devout Unsaved
December 17, 2025
by Dennis Christian
I am a Christian. In an attitude of repentance, I have received God’s gift of eternal life by trusting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God has forgiven me of my sins and has reconciled me unto Himself. It is by His mercy and grace, not by any works I can do, that my sins are forgiven and I can have a personal relationship with God Himself.
This is Christianity. It teaches that it alone is the way mankind is reconciled to his creator – God. This means that if one is sincere and devout in any other religion, it is a false and empty hope/faith for being reconciled to God. Though one is the most faithful believer of Islam, Judaism, Hindu, Buddha or others, he is lost and doomed to hell. That is why Christians send missionaries to preach the gospel of Christ to believers of these other religions – to convert them to the only true religion so they can be saved.
Now, Christian, consider this question: how is it that you came to be a Christian as opposed to a believer in one of these other religions? Did you diligently study each one and ask God for guidance and understanding to lead you to the one that was true? Was it the first religion that came your way among several that finally made sense? Did you seek God only within the Christian faith because it was the overwhelmingly dominant faith in your culture? Or is it primarily because it was the faith of your parents and grandparents? However, you got there, at some point you heard the gospel and personally and individually bowed before God, repented of your sin and placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as savior. In your heart you know that you are saved and have no doubt that Jesus is the Son of God and savior of all who believe in Him. But in attaining this condition and belief, how much was due to your choice and how much was God’s choice, i.e. in His selection of your parents?
For example, let us contrast two individuals. The first is born in Texas to devout Christian parents of the Baptist faith. They bring up their child in the church through teaching and exemplifying sound Christian doctrine, and the child eventually understands and believes the gospel and is saved. The second is born in Iran to devout Islamic parents, who likewise teach and exemplify doctrines of the Islamic faith. This child eventually understands and accepts the Islamic faith. Although the child will likely hear of other religions, he believes the Islamic faith to be the true and right religion and never pursues Christianity. The Christian is certain that he is reconciled to God while the Muslim is equally convinced that he is reconciled to God. This points out how fortunate we are who have a Christian heritage. But for the grace of God we could have been born in Iran and be lost as devout believers in Islam.
What of those who were unfortunate enough to be born into a different heritage? How can we reach them? Taking the Christian and the Islamic in the example above, let’s suppose these two people meet – say as co-workers in a corporation, become good friends and eventually become concerned about each other’s spiritual well-being. So, each sets out to convince the other to convert to his religion. But immediately a huge obstacle emerges – each is completely closed minded about the other’s religion. Each tries to share his faith but will not listen to the other trying to share his faith. Zero progress is made. So, the two discuss how they can move the effort forward. It finally dawns on them that to make any progress, one or both have to be open to giving serious consideration to the other’s religion. But, being devoutly convinced their religion is the only true one, both find the very thought of this offensive. However, because of their love for one another as close friends they persist in seeking a way to make progress. After much struggling, they come to agree that their common ground is the desire to know truth. Each thinks to himself, “if my faith is the true faith then it will stand up to all truth, and thus I can proceed with an open mind to any truth as the other person shares his faith with me.” So, they agree to mutually share their faiths with an open mind to any truth.
Will either convince the other? Maybe not, but as a Christian, I see this as an opportunity to share the gospel with a lost brother. Is there some risk here of the Christian converting to Islam? I don’t think so if he is well grounded in the faith. Since his motive is genuine love for his brother, I believe God will provide him all necessary strength and protection through the indwelling Holy Spirit. If Islam is false, the greatest power the Christian will face is Satan and his forces. But, again we have the promise that “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” Since the Islamic brother is open to truth, we have real hope that he will be convicted by the Holy Spirit of the truth of Jesus as the only Lord and Savior of all.
What is the point of all of this for Christians? It is this: to reach people who are devout believers of a non-Christian faith, we have to meet them with an open mind on the common ground of truth. For them to be open to our gospel, they may require that we give honest and genuine consideration to their faith and truth it may have to offer. We can do this confidently because we know that real truth never contradicts itself. If indeed Christianity is true, we need not fear any truth wherever we may find it. Thus, with the pure motive of love and with the Holy Spirit as our strength, we can use this approach to reach out to these hard-to-reach lost people who were not so fortunate as those of us who were born into a Christian setting.
