I think of my world, which is vastly different from theirs. My comfort, the ease, the take-it-for-granted attitude that I, and everyone around me, bears. My children will not go to bed hungry tonight. I have the privilege of cozying up on a couch with a hot cup of tea, and browse CNN to see what other horrors might be awaiting those with the sorrowful eyes. I will wake up in the morning, if God grants me breath, and I will not think of them. I will go shopping and load up on the consumerism that is slowly killing this nation, and I will forget. When my children wake up Christmas morning with their bright eyes, somewhere those babies are weeping for their mamas.
It makes me cry. In our abundance and privilege, dare we turn these children away? And how have we come to the point in our thinking that we are comparing human souls to gumballs and jellybeans?? (If you don't know what I'm talking about, be very thankful.) I fail to understand why Christians always seem to play Devil's advocate. Why they must always jump on the bandwagon of extremes without even thinking anything through. Or thinking through a very small tunnel. Truth is not found in the extremes, but in the middle.
The doubts do creep in. You wonder if the refugees need to be brought in so quickly. You wonder if our country (or our already poor province of Nova Scotia) has the capability, funds, vaccines, jobs, etc to handle an influx of people. You wonder if our very new, very young Prime Minister has thought this thing through. You wonder what will happen if indeed a terrorist slips through. The doubts are real, and I don't think voicing them means that we don't care.
BUT...
Christians, of all people, know why the world is the way it is. We know what it's eventually going to come to. We know that we are blessed, in the last few hundred years, to not have been persecuted in our first world nation. But more than all of this, we know Who is in control. The government is going to do what the government is going to do, and the last time I checked, in my Bible it says that God is in control of them too. Also, we are told time and time again in God's word, to not fear. The future, murder, persecution, famine, plague, pestilence - none of it should cause us fear. Not that any bad stuff won't happen to us. Rather, Jesus promised that it will happen to us. He said point-blank that in this world we will have trouble (John 16:33). And maybe, just maybe, God wants the refugees to come to us so that we can be shaken out of our very deep sleep.
Maybe it is all being handled poorly. Maybe our country isn't ready to have a large group of refugees come in. Maybe it is the worst decision our Prime Minister could make. Maybe. Who knows?
But if Mr. Trudeau chooses to invite 25, 000 refugees into our country, then we do what Jesus would have done. We forbid them not. (And that might mean keeping our mouths shut on social media.) We clothe them, feed them, shelter them. If they, for whatever reason, choose to persecute us, we turn the other cheek. If they kill us, as some are suggesting could happen, we go to God in heaven. I am not saying something like that wouldn't be tragic or wrong. I am not saying to not be cautious, but it is utterly, completely beyond our control and out of our hands. So let's do the right thing and be the hands and feet of Jesus to a lost and dying world. Let's love as Jesus loved. Let's step out of our cushy lives and give of ourselves the way He gave. And, for goodness' sake, let's stop railing against the inevitable and be the peacemakers He's called us to be.
(They) asked Him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus answered, "The most important is... you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:28-31
