Unpopular Isolation: My Journey to Discover Where I Stand

Refuge: a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble

I hesitate to write this. I hesitate not because of fear of my thoughts but pre-felt heartbreak at what I assume will not be kind responses.  

  

But today I sat at the table with my husband and asked this question: 

        

What if I find that the culture of the Kingdom is different than both? Do I stay silent? Do I have a place to fit in?" 

  

I'm not sure if I've fully found where I stand but I know this journey isn't leading me down a very comfortable road. It's challenging me in real places of fear and my own wisdom and what I'm seeing is God doesn't think like me... and He doesn't want me to think like me. 

  

Before I move forward I hope you will hear me. I would never write something with the intent to condemn anyone, judge anyone, or cause more division. If there is anything I've learned from Jesus it's that we need less boundaries between us. We need less boundaries between us within the church and we need less boundaries between us and the world. We are set a part but we are to be accessible, slow to anger, quick to love. What I'm writing in these next few paragraphs isn't meant to harm it's meant to challenge. Challenge me. Challenge you.  

Challenge us to question our wisdom and evaluate our words. Determine where we really stand. 

Also know this. I'm willing to be challenged myself. I can only offer what I've read and maybe I am limited. Challenge me- kindly please. Offer your counters. But know this, I'm not interested in your opinions even though I respect them. If I'm to be a believer I need to know what God says even above you and your wisdom of things of this world that probably surpass my wisdom. I'm not afraid to be proven wrong- I am afraid of believing wrong. Lives are in the balance and how I believe and my ultimate response to those beliefs are directly related to those lives. 

  

Friday night a greater spotlight was shed on an issue that has been circulating our society since 9/11. War and fighting has been going on since then and we are seeing one of the greatest threats we have ever known (at least in my lifetime) grow in number and voice and seemingly strength. This past week my home has been full of dialogue. Being pregnant, and I'm sure parents all over can relate, fear gripped me. Even guilt gripped me. I don't want our daughter growing up in scary times. I don't want danger near her. I want to know how we are going to protect her. How am I going to keep her, my husband, and our family safe? This was a real question for me. I didn't know how to answer it. I looked at the devastation that occurred in Paris and felt helpless- what if that happens here? 

  

I looked at my husband and wanted him to answer me. Tell me he knew the answers. He didn't. As I struggled with these thought's throughout the next few days he and I began reading articles and seeing new stories being circulated. Honestly, we already knew things were not good overseas, I even wrote about it a while back. We have friends whose churches were aiding the refugee crisis. But all of the sudden these things were being questioned. Should we as Americans help? How much help? 

  

I couldn't answer.  

  

All of the sudden the welfare of these faceless and nameless people, people who don't look, think, believe, or even speak like me, seemed a little too intrusive to my comfort. This is America- land of the free and my freedom felt like it was in jeopardy because what if someone masquerading as a victim is really the villain. That's not a risk I want to take. 

  

I wanted to leave my thoughts there. They aren't my responsibility. They aren't my brothers, my sisters, my nieces or nephews. They aren't my friends. But I couldn't shake this lingering thought that I was missing something. Something wasn't right about what I was accepting. 

  

Then a friend of mine posted an article from Relevant Magazine. It was very simple and included 12 verses that discussed what scripture says about foreigners and those seeking refuge.  

These words hit me: 

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise." (Luke 10:36-37) 

I'm right, they aren't my friends or my brothers or sisters. The question was never who they were to me. It was always about who I am to the world. I am THEIR neighbor.  

  

Reading these 12 scriptures (and mind you I realize that it's only 12 but I haven't read 1 that contradicts them or discredits them- I've seen no exceptions) made me realize that I have it all wrong. I'm looking at these people like they have to be something, believe something, or do something that merits them my aid or my service. Christ's mandate to the church was never that the world earn anything- it was that the world could never earn grace or mercy but that we should give it anyway. 

  

Everything about walking out our lives as believers trumps what it means to walk out our lives as Americans. I am proud to be an American but in the most patriotic way I am more of a citizen of the Kingdom of God than of the U.S. Neither negates the other but one DEFINITELY trumps the other. 

  

I find that we believers pray that God would once again reign as the center of our nation- that our values would once again be based off of the principals of the Bible. Are we sure? Because a lot of what I read challenges our American ideals. It requires selflessness. It demands we put down decisions out of fear and do what scripture illustrates- even at the expense of ourselves. Biblical values are not easy and the require a lot of sacrifice and very little (if any) room for selfishness or self preservation. Jesus was all about our good at His expense and then said you do what I do. 

  

I don't want to assume the position of a political person. I'm far from it. But I do want to be a good picture of who Jesus is to a world who DESPERATELY needs Him. I have to believe that if God said to embrace the foreigner and do good to them that it's because the benefits there are eternal for both parties and the consequences of not are equally eternal for both parties.  

  

I'd rather be found obedient and trust that God would honor me there then be found safe and look as if I'm ashamed of the Gospel that really is good news for ALL people- Jew and Gentile, slave or free.  

  

These ideas are hard and I never wanted to be the person to present them. To be the presenter of ideas that challenge two different cultures is scary- but to be quiet is cowardliness. I will be no coward. 

  

I don't know the remedy here, friends. I don't know the solutions. But I know that citizenship of country and citizenship of kingdom can no longer be separate. Our ideals and beliefs have to come from scripture. Only then are we truly looking out for the best interest of our families and our nation and ultimately the world. It was never easy being a follower of Jesus but the benefits were never meant to be here on earth anyway.  

I pray the church really does rise up. That we truly become the voice of Jesus and a loving God to a world who feels He is so opposite. I pray that kingdom culture be the thing that turns the hearts of generations back to the Father. And I pray that starts with us- putting down our swords and fear filled words and embracing faith and love and the nature of the one who saved us and set the example. 

  

The solution is in there- in being true disciples. Not just the solution for us but the solution for humanity. That solution really is Jesus anyway, right? So that makes sense. 

I'll leave you with this...

When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. (Leviticus 19:33-34)