love

A modest proposal for the refugee crisis

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

I don’t post often, but with the recent talk about Christian responses to Syrian refugees, I wanted to offer my humble proposal.

Most of the discussion seems to revolve around to issues: security at home and love for the refugee. It seems to me both could be handled by working with Middle Eastern nations to provide a Middle Eastern alternative.

Providing a safe, secure place for refugees in the Middle East would solve most of the debate. US involvement would allow us to love the refugee. By making sure the facility is safe and clean we could provide a pleasant, temporary home for those displaced by war. By employing them in the care and upkeep of the facility we could also address the human need to work, allowing them to keep their dignity. Finally, by establishing the location in the Middle East we allow for a smoother resettlement of refugees after the war.

On the homefront this also loves our next door neighbor by addressing real security concerns. With attacks in Canada, Europe, and now the US, the concerns of our fellow Americans cannot be boiled down to simple racism. There concerns are based upon real events, not the perceived ‘otherness’ of refugees.

It strikes me that we did something similar in Africa during the last Ebola crisis. The US Military rapidly deployed and built facilities to house and care for the sick. Certainly we could do the same thing in the Middle East, working with a host nation.

Of course this suggestion isn’t without challenges. The greatest challenge maybe finding a Middle Eastern nation to help. However, we must have some leverage we could use to persuade allied nations to support this action.

So, to recap, establishing a refugee center in the Middle East would love the refugee by providing for the safety, security, and eventual return whom, while also loving our next door neighbor by providing security for the homefront.

What is love?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
(Mark 10:17–22 ESV, emp mine)

When the rich man comes to Jesus, Jesus loves him.  But look at that love.  We might expect Jesus to love him by saying, “You’re money is an issue, come follow me and we’ll deal with that.”  Or, we might expect Jesus to say, “You’re all sinners, so don’t get too worked up over this law stuff.”  From much of what we hear taught today, the only way to love the unrepentant sinner is to not confront their sin.  Yet, Jesus does the exact opposite.

It is loving for Jesus to confront this man’s sin.  He draws a clear line in the sand:  the man must leave his beloved wealth in order to follow Christ.  Anything less is absolutely unacceptable.  How is this love?  Because it doesn’t give the man a false sense of security, or a false sense of salvation.  Jesus knows the standard is real repentance, and knows it would be doing this man a disservice to pretend something less was acceptable.  Lowering the bar might even cost this man salvation.

We tend to lower the bar in our own lives.  We rationalize and excuse our own sin.  We also lower the bar for others.  Professing Christians are allowed to continue in unrepentant sin without anyone loving them enough to tell them they’ve sinned.  Rebellious Christians are allowed to continue on indefinitely, because the church doesn’t love them enough to say, “Enough is enough.”

Don’t lower the bar.  Love yourself and others by passionately pursuing personal holiness.

Waiting for Jesus to Show Up | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

We shouldn’t scold ourselves for this. There’s no point in shaming ourselves because we don’t love God. To begin with, you can’t make yourself love someone or some activity. You either love or you don’t.

via Waiting for Jesus to Show Up | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction.

A great article on loving God.  Especially at Christmas we need to remember that love is not forced, it is a gift.  At the same time, we need to call our lovelessness what it is:  sin.

God commands us to love Him (Deuteronomy 6:5).  Though I cannot make myself love Him, yet I must repent of not loving Him.  This, I believe, is the first step to learning to love God:  recognizing my lack of love as sin.  Having done this, I can turn to Him who is Love, find forgiveness and His love begins growing within.