Becoming the Neighbor
Are people "religious" by nature?
Jacob George is one of my favorite people in the world. He has been a spiritual father to me: someone who has encouraged me, guided me, offered me his insight, even rebuked me when necessary. With his help, I shared some of his life story in my first book, Full Circle. He is full of wisdom. He is also full of good stories, so you won’t want to miss this week’s new episode of the Redeeming Missions podcast.
During our conversation, Jacob made an interesting statement: “People, by nature, are religious.” I agree with him, but I wanted him to expand on that idea. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation.
Question:
I want to say that again: “People, by nature, are religious.” All around the world?
Jacob:
I think so. Even, you know, the people who say, “There is no god.” I’m sure, at some point in their life, they will look to God. Maybe in their last days, or in a crisis, they will want to look to God. When you have everything in life, you may not need God. But [a] time will come—you will come to a place where you realize that you are helpless. Even the person who has got all the things in his life—helpless situations will come where you cannot redeem yourself. Then you need help. A higher power, which I believe is God.
Even for this tribal people [the tribe in India where Jacob and Susan spent much of their life learning the local language and translating the Bible], it’s much…easier for them to believe in a God who cares for them rather than who won’t. See, the shaman and the spirits are always: “Give, give, give, give me, give me, give me. More and more…” And they are not getting anything in return because people only [increase] their debts. I don’t know at what point they get cured of their particular case of sickness. You get out of one sickness, tomorrow will come another sickness. Then what do you do? Sickness will never leave you. Forever…
It's much easier and simpler for them to believe in Jesus Christ because they don’t have to do any more sacrifices. Because Jesus’s sacrifice is…enough. No chicken, no goat, they don’t have to spend any more money. They only need to believe, which is much easier…and also God is healing these people when they pray. So they all want to believe in Jesus Christ.
I wish I could give everyone a neighbor like Jacob, but sharing his wisdom on the podcast is the best I could do today. Listen to the full episode here!