Repost: I’m A Refugee (And So Are You)
By Fin Sheridan
In recognition of REFUGEE WEEK, we’ll be exploring what the Bible says about how we should treat refugees and how YOU can practically get involved. To start, here’s a blog we posted a few weeks ago.
The last couple of years have seen an unprecedented surge in refugees. What has come to be known as the migrant crisis has seen millions of people displaced, moving into camps and countries in search of safety and a better life. Thousands of children have only ever known life as a refugee. Thousands of families dependant on the care and compassion of strangers. Thousands mourning the death of a loved one as they fled war, famine, and danger.
Across the world, countries have had to consider their response. Some have flung the doors open. Others have slammed them shut. People are bitterly divided over what to do. There’s no simple solution; situations this huge are rarely black and white.
In Hebrews 6, it says that “we who have fled for refuge have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.” The migrant crisis gives us a visual picture of this spiritual state.
Christians are those who have “fled for refuge”. I am a refugee.
Fleeing from the toxicity of sin, the traps of the devil, the emptiness of my idolatry, I have fled to the hope and safety of Jesus Christ and, against all reason and right, he has taken me in.
“As Christians, we know firsthand what it was like to be strangers and sojourners; those in need of a safe place.”
There’s nothing glamorous about being a refugee. There’s nothing boast-worthy about fleeing. It’s a vulnerable and dependant position to be in.
That’s where the grace of God does its best work: when we have nothing to offer and need everything. As Christians, we know firsthand what it was like to be strangers and sojourners; those in need of a safe place. Like the Prodigal Son, we want to go home. Like the wandering Israelites, we believe in the hope of a Promised Land.
The refugee crisis is a complex and detailed issue but at the same time, it’s actually a very simple one: there are people who need our help and as Christians, we cannot ignore it. We fled for refuge and found a God who took us in. Our response should be exactly the same “on earth, as it is in heaven”.
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