Let’s Ask Different Questions
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Our world has been a different place in the past months for many reasons. We have experienced a great pandemic. We had politics, and more politics, and even more politics. People are divided by opinions and fears. Politicians and even journalists have differing options about what is happening in our world. We are reminded, as Christians, to examine the world through a Christian worldview.
A crisis is brewing at the border of our great nation. Thousands of people want to live where we in the United States are blessed to live. It is difficult to imagine a world so tragic that, no matter what the cost or risk, a person decides to leave that country for the unknown.
We find ourselves even more divided as Christians. When Moses led the people from Egypt to their promised land, he conveyed many regulations and laws about how the early Jewish people were to act. Among the many included in the Old Testament, we find the following:
Exodus 22:21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
This seems pretty simple. But is it? Are we asking the right questions? Our divisions are focused on two main themes: helping the unfortunate and defending our own security. But it is more complex than this.
Mark 12:31 “The second is this”Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We know Jesus commanded us in Mark 12:31 to love our neighbors as ourselves. Does that include loving the thousands of helpless and hungry people who travel across countries just to reach our border? Yes. But it is still not that simple. Because loving your neighbor means loving those in our country, too. We have our own hungry population and helpless individuals in very impoverished areas of the country. And doesn’t loving your neighbor include protecting others from harm as much as we possibly can? Protecting individuals in our country from violence, drugs, gangs? Taking care of our children, elderly, and individuals who live their lives in a responsible way? Isn’t that also part of loving your neighbor?
Yes. You see it is a very complex problem with no easy answers. Before we can find the answers, we must be asking the right questions. Instead of digging in our heels for one side or the other, we should be talking to each other and asking thoughtful and respectful questions. Not “Should we have security?” but how. Not “Should we help?” but how. We cannot possibly help every single person, but God can. We can pray for those who are wandering for a better life. We can contribute to charitable organizations for the hungry. We can use our Christian voices to talk to people from both sides of the border.
We cannot complete this task all at once. Solving this crisis will take time and of course funds. It will require intelligent and thoughtful solutions from both sides of the border and political spectrum.
Last week, my new book, Both Sides of the Border, was released through Ambassador International Publisher. In this novel, the lives of two women, one from each side of the border, are followed. One young woman travels across Central America and Mexico to Texas. Another woman travels from Texas through Mexico. From different cultures and beliefs, we examine their own worlds. It is a story that was written in the hope of starting conversations. It is a story of testing strength and faith.
Here is a link to the official trailer of the book, Both Sides of the Border. It is now available through Amazon and other bookstores.
Available at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1649600585/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1