Written by a Cafe 1040 Student
You run up to the blind man with the painting in your hands, excited to share the intricate masterpiece with him. The painting is so unique to anything that you have ever seen before. By just glimpsing at the painting, it leaves you in such awe that you know that the painter must be a master artist.
When you first saw the painting, you did not understand the message that the artist is trying to communicate and the reason they decided to create it. Yet, you are able to see how much thought and detail went into creating the painting. The multiple colors, the strokes of various brushes, and the design all work perfectly together and for a purpose.
Once someone explained the message depicted in the painting to you, you began to understand the artist’s purpose in creating it. You suddenly were unable to look at it in the same way. The message gave the painting so much more meaning and purpose, so you become excited to share the painting with everyone who hadn’t yet heard about it or understood it.
When you first came to the blind man, you began sharing earnestly about the painting and explain how it has impacted you. You describe the various strokes, colors, details, and the artist’s purpose in creating it. You explain how your perspective changed once you understood the message and how you can never look at it in the same way. While you have been explaining, the blind man has been listening intently. Suddenly, the man pulls out his own painting that he has created.
You immediately notice that the painting is the blind man’s version of the masterpiece you have explained to him. He begins to explain why he chose the colors, brushes, and details that he did and describes the message that he is trying to depict through his own work. The man then begins to compare the two paintings and points out the similarities between the paintings. With your sight, you are able to see the similarities between the paintings that he is describing, but you also notice that the paintings are extremely different. The colors, brush strokes, and methods of each artist are completely different from another, as well as the message of the paintings.
As much as you try to describe to the blind man how the painting you have brought to him has a completely different message and that is nowhere near the same as his, he is unable to understand. You then realize that there is nothing that you can say until his eyes are opened and he can experience the masterpiece for himself.
I share this story with you to help describe our experience of sitting down with a man of the Muslim faith. The man graciously invited us over to his home for dinner, so that we could learn more about Muslim culture and their beliefs.
Over the course of the meal, the man was proud to share about Muslim culture and the beliefs of his people. As he explained, we would ask him questions that would point back to Jesus and the message of the gospel. Every time we asked these questions, he would begin to go around in circles attempting to answer the questions or would avoid answering them and tell us something about his beliefs.
Let me start out by explaining that his response could have partly been that he did not understand our questions, because English is not his native language. But I believe that his inability to answer questions also came from his blindness to the Good News. As the man spent two hours talking about the Muslim faith, I realized that he could not see the hope and love that Jesus has to offer right in front of him.
The man has been living in complete and utter darkness his entire life. The enemy has been feeding him lies that has blocked his vision to see God as the creator of the universe and how he sent His son to die for the sins of all people.
Walking away from our conversation with the man, my heart was breaking for this man and his people. The only Christian presence in the small village was our team during that time there. This opened my eyes even more to the desperate need for the gospel in many parts of the world that have no workers being sent there. And how many people that have the truth and hope of the Good News are actually taking it to the parts of the world that do not have access to it?
