When we live in a multi-cultural society, we need to be on the lookout lest racial, religious or communal differences colour our attitudes towards others. We know the same God is the Creator of all people, and that all people were created in His image. All of us are born in sin and carry a distorted picture of God's image in our life, but God has presented the sacrifice of Jesus as the remedy for everyone's sin (1Jn.2:2). If any of us, irrespective of which background we come from, is born again when we receive this salvation, God makes us children of God. But even this difference between children of God and others does not give us any right to look down on anyone or to treat them as less than human.
Having said this, there is a huge difference between children of God and others. Children of God have been born again by a supernatural work of God in our life, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. God gives us a new heart because of which we want to stop sinning and only do the will of God in every part of our life (1Jn.3:9). The whole direction of our life changes 180 degrees from our old way when we used to give in to sin without resistance, to one where we want to be entirely pleasing to God. This makes us very different from what we ourselves used to be and also from others who have not experienced this salvation.
We wish others will also have the same experience as we, and so we take pains to share the good news with them. But many of them don't want to hear about it, and they continue to worship many other gods. But there is really only one God, and what many worship as gods are actually demons or evil spirits who act like gods (1Co.10:20). And then, when they have festivals celebrating their gods, how can it be that we celebrate along with them or wish them? Do we understand what we are really doing?
Many people say, "Rest in peace," when people die. But yet we know that no one can rest in peace unless they have experienced salvation by receiving Jesus as their Saviour, and their sins have been forgiven.
Are we trying to be polite, or are we really ignorant about the implications of what we do? The current trend in the world is to think of all religions as being essentially the same, and to behave as if all people and all philosophies are good and acceptable. But can we subscribe to this approach without totally compromising what we know from Jesus?
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me'" (Jn.14:6). We have believed this, and have come to experience this as a practical truth in our life, and now can we water this down and pretend as if it is really not true? Or as if it really is not an important issue? Then our own knowledge of Jesus becomes questionable. What exactly do we believe about Him? Has our born-again experience been just an idea that can be interpreted in different ways? Do we want to compromise in order to please men?