Reading an article this morning that discussed our country’s policies on “illegal immigrants”; I was struck by how the information was presented. More often than not, discussions like this happen with an “us/them” mentality. But here are some interesting points they made:
1. As members of the body of Christ, we are called to allegiance to Christ, above country, above lifestyle, above everything. To see anything else before we see Christ, in ourselves or another person, could be idolatry of that thing.
2. Currently, over 9.4 million of our nations undocumented residents come from Mexico, and other spanish-speaking areas.
3. Over 78% of Latino residents surveyed, confess Christian faith.
4. That means, over 8.1 million people in our Christian family are affected by our nations’ views/legal stances on citizenship, etc.
A great article about how some in the church are responding, that’s far too long to copy/paste, but a very interesting read, can be found here.
It’s hard to combine rational, “take care of our country/future/safety/etc” thinking, and the grace these writers are speaking of. I’m not sure if I’m ready to personally offer my basement bedroom to an undocumented family, even if they are a part of the family of God. (just ask my biological family, sometimes I just want my house all to myself) How does all of this combine with submitting to authority?
Maybe someday, like those in the article….I’ll be forced to decide where I stand. In that moment, may God be with me. Until then, I suppose that’s why it’s good to be thinking/praying/discussing these things. Because I doubt this is an issue that will go away ever…and the way the Church abroad responds will play a HUGE role in our communicating the gospel to the World.
words from wick 