To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (Deut. 10:14-19)
I am a foreigner in this country. Although I am now finally a fully naturalized citizen, I will always feel slightly out-of-place here in my adopted home. I absolutely love it here, but I can never lose sight of the fact that I was born and raised in London. It’s in my blood, regardless of the flag on my passport.
So, having come from another country and gone through the immigration system myself, I have a vested interest in the debates that are raging in America today and in what the Bible says in regard to the ways in which we should treat “foreigners” or “sojourners.”
We’re not going to solve all those questions in a brief devotional thought, (a good resource for that is the website,
http://www.undocumented.tv), but this passage in Deuteronomy is a good place to start thinking them through.
Here we find a reminder that we serve a Holy God whom we are told to love and worship with fear and obedience. The repeated thought is that we did not choose Him, He chose us. If we have any favor or standing in His eyes it is because of God, not because we are special or better than anyone else.
In fact, it is part of God’s character, a core component of His very identity, to care for “the fatherless and the widow.” Our God doesn’t just tolerate or accommodate the foreigner, He “loves the foreigner.” His heart is filled with care and concern for foreigners.
The question then becomes, what about us? How will we respond to the increasing numbers of foreigners, documented and undocumented, living right here in our community? What are we to make of the Hindu and Muslim places of worship sprouting up all around us? How can the Church take a stand against atrocities such as human trafficking? How can we reach these people with the gospel?
I encourage you to join Local Impact Pastor Chris McElwee and hundreds of other people at the 2012 “Mission On Our Doorsteps” conference, March 16-17. This incredible event will be an opportunity to honestly wrestle with these issues and more as pastors and church leaders gather to discuss what the Bible says about “justice” for those living right here among us.
http://www.missiononourdoorsteps.com/ You can watch a great summary video here: