Border Crisis

If you hate anyone because of your faith, you’re doing it wrong

the Happy Givers

This is super convicting to me…..maybe it is to you, too. I’m convinced that we (as a society in general) have lost the ability to disagree without dividing. We can start to identify ourselves by our own personal convictions or opinions, to the point that we then feel threatened if someone disagrees with us. Rather than simply having a different thought on a particular subject, we will draw conclusions about that person’s character, integrity, intelligence, or motives and create a wall of division between us. I can’t think of a better example of this than what we see on display at the southern U.S. border, where literal and figurative walls are separating human beings based on a made-up line of demarcation and an imagined ideal of who “deserves” to be here.

Recently I was having a conversation with a woman who said to me in reference to the thousands of migrants and refugees stuck at the border, “They’re all criminals coming here and just looking for a hand-out.” We had a good conversation, as I attempted to show her another view of these precious souls and help her see them through a different lens. Many of the posts I see online, even from well-intentioned friends and family whom I love dearly, speak of migrants and refugees in a way that completely dehumanizes them. They are seen as a “problem to fix” rather than people to love. To any who read these words, I’m pleading with you…..it should not be this way.

“Treat the foreigner the same as the native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners…..”

“Treat the foreigner the same as the native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners…..” These aren’t my words, but taken directly from old testament scripture in the book of Leviticus. I don’t know about you and your family, but my ancestors were immigrants as well. They came here as foreigners and didn’t speak English. At five years old, my great-grandfather boarded a ship with his parents and extended family, sailed across the Atlantic and landed in Canada. They continued their trek over land and by river until they finally landed in Minnesota and started a new life in America. Chances are, your family has a similar story, unless you happen to be a descendant of indigenous Native-American tribes. I can tell you with 100% certainty, if I were living today in war-torn poverty, violence, corruption, and unrest, I would do anything I had to do to get my family to safety in hopes for a better future for my kids and grandkids, and most likely you’d probably do the same as well.

The great majority of people in this beautiful world just want to be loved. We want to live in peace and prosperity. We want to raise our children in safety, with enough opportunity to provide well for their needs and see them grow and prosper. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, what language you speak, or what side of the barbed-wire you happen to have been born on. If we forget that and start viewing foreigners as “us vs. them”, we become part of the problem rather than the solution. This mindset only deepens the divide and causes more separation, distrust, and misunderstanding. That, I’m afraid, is the real border crisis.

Disclaimer: I certainly don’t have all the answers to fix our broken immigration system. I don’t understand all the intricacies of U.S. policy, DACA, Refugee admissions, Asylum status, etc., etc. I only know this one simple truth. My faith should cause me to love my neighbor, and if it doesn’t, then I’m doing it wrong.