You’ve seen the refugee crisis in the news.
The pictures, the video footage, the heartbreaking stories. You’ve read about the unthinkable choices, the danger, the suffering. And if you’re like me, you’ve found them hard to ignore.
It’s a helpless feeling–wanting to do something right here, right now, but not knowing how to help or even what to do. I get it because I feel it, too.
I feel the same urge to act when I read about what Planned Parenthood does with babies or when I hear about a teen girl who chooses survival prostitution because she really has no choice or mothers who offer their child dirt cookies to stop the hungry stomach pangs.
I don’t have a solution to solve all these issues; most are too complicated for me to understand. I’m not political and I don’t have the expertise or experience to offer sound answers on borders and boundaries or the persuasive ability to turn the pro abortion tide or enough money to give hopeless girls and mothers options.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t do anything. That’s not an option.
“Whatever you do will not be enough, but it matters enormously that you do it.” Gandhi
No, I don’t know always know what to do, but I do know I don’t want to stick my head in the sand, pull my family close and say just because it’s not happening to us, means it’s not happening.
I don’t want to turn away from the cry of the hurting.
I don’t want fear to govern what I do or don’t do.
I don’t want to be like the Christians that decided to sing louder to drown out the cries of the Jews stuffed into a cargo train passing by the church on their way to a concentration camp.
I don’t want to only surround myself with people like me because it’s safe and comfortable. I want to teach a hindu woman how to crochet, I want to meet a buddhist refugee at the airport. I want to be friends with people who don’t agree with me, who have a different color skin, serve different gods, who choose an abortion or a homosexual lifestyle.
I want to fill my life with people who need Jesus. Because I have Him and I want to share Him.
I was surprised by the amount of people who are questioning helping refugees because they might be Muslim. There is a danger in only wanting to help people who are like us. Christians aren’t just called to help Christians, we are called to help those who have a need, and maybe when we lend a cup in Jesus’ name, their need might be met and they might meet Him, too.
I can’t help but think of how Jesus stepped into crowds of people who were nothing like him. He sought out those who were unloved, unworthy and unsafe.
And the crazy thing is people walked miles in the desert sun to hear the inconvenient truth of The Son. Everything about the Gospel is uncomfortable. It is unattractive. Unappealing. Jesus asks us to risk our lives for it.
Maureen and her husband Oliver, who run Rehema House (the Kenyan partner to Mercy House) are staying in our home this month. It is Oliver’s first time in America and it’s humbling to introduce our great comfortable country to someone who has never been here or is new to comfort. When he saw our kitchen faucet that also detaches as a sprayer, he said, “This place is like Heaven.” It’s a convenience I’ve never even stopped to consider.
And when we stopped into one of the largest church’s in our town, his eyes grew wide at the enormous buildings, coffee shop and restaurant, bookstore and the huge children’s indoor playground. He paused to read the bulletin boards offering yoga classes, soccer teams and half a dozen other fun activities. And his question pierced me deeply, “Does this church preach the same Jesus?”
Because we’re so comfortable it’s hard for this Kenyan man who lived in a slum less than two year ago, sometimes wondering where his next meal would come from, to recognize the One who said it’s better to lose your life than find it.
When we look closely at the hard sayings of Jesus, He doesn’t say protect yourself. He says deny yourself. He doesn’t say get comfortable because this road is easy; He asks us to give up what we have. He doesn’t say love those who are like us, He tells us to love our enemies.
He doesn’t tell us to build this great, comfortable life filled with ease because we deserve the American dream. He doesn’t tell us to do what is easy, He says take up your instrument of torture (cross) and follow me.
God’s goal isn’t our comfort or convenience. It’s His glory and He often has to get us uncomfortable and inconvenienced to reveal it.
Good post!
YES! THIS!
Thank you for this! We are called to help others, no matter what. While we may not be able to help with the big picture or understand it, if we help, in some small way or some big way, we’re serving Jesus.
Yes! Thank you so much! I keep thinking that Jesus served Judas, and He knew Judas would betray Him and be His enemy. Fear that someone coming from Syria *might* be a member of ISIS is not an excuse to close our borders to people in need. Terror attacks in our country have been committed by Americans, so we are not guaranteed safety. I don’t think Jesus is going to say “well done, good and faithful servants, your fear has saved you, go in peace.” Thanks again for writing this!
Yes. Just yes. I often find myself exhaling while I read your posts because you so perfectly put into words what my heart is longing for. Thank you.
Kristen – So much of our American life is muddled in chaos of our own doing. We are so busy keeping up that we don’t possess the energy or time to look around and FEEL what is happening outside of our busy little bubbles. Thank you for writing God’s heart Kristen. Keep going. You are calling us out in the most inspiring ways. Many thanks.
I was shocked at someone saying we should only help the Christians and keep out others so our country wouldn’t be overrun. I understand the sentiment from a fear standpoint, but at the same time I know that is entirely the wrong way for us to react. We must help as we can. (PS–I sent a package of sanitary napkins to you via Amazon today)
Yes! So many times yes!
I first mentioned the need to help to my husband and while he agreed with me, he also felt it to be unwise because a. most are Muslims and b. perhaps this is their way of overtaking the world.
It gave me pause and instant fear for my child rose up. Knowing the history of Muslims, and how they are already pervading America gave me pause.
But as I asked myself that old familiar question, “What would Jesus do?” the answer was astoundingly clear.
Jesus was God. He didn’t just wonder if Judas would betray His trust, He knew. He knew Judas would betray him and yet invited him into his closest circle of friends.
And that’s my answer. We are watching and praying, and asking that God will make it clear what we are to do.
And, I just love what you said about wanting to friends with people who don’t agree with you. It’s really hard on my heart as I see friends clearly going the wrong way, but I love them and if I do not continue to be friends with them, who else will show them Christ lived out?
Thank you Kendra – I’ve heard the same fears and wondered in my heart if we are falling prey to an infiltration move. I needed to hear this!
Kendra/Sarah: Do you really believe that there’s no other hope in these people running (literally walking thousands of miles from Syria to Europe) from this war than to “invade”, even “pervade” America – or Europe? Do you really compare 60 million refugees worldwide to Judas in the worst possible sense, evil people who can’t wait to tear precious, Christian America into the dirt, to “pervade” this country into… what? Do you really need to ask yourself “What would Jesus do?” to reach out to millions of humans, many of them children – to give them a little something like blankets in the middle of utmost, life-threatening need?
To me, this is the most shocking thing I’ve heard in a long while. It scares me big time to hear that prejudices like that are still so much alive – the same prejudices many Jews heard in the 30s and 40s and the same kind of prejudice that made the US arrest thousands of their citizens during the Cold War era (“They are Asian, who knows what they might do?”).
Oh, and by the way – have you ever considered that without the treason of Judas, Christ would never have been crucified and all of God’s plans for the salvation of the human race would never have come true?
Sorry for the emotional post, but this really grabbed my heart.
Ive been wanting to write this post for a week, but now I don’t have to. You pulled everything out of my heart and head and put it in this post. Thank you for writing. This is such a hard conversation to have because everyone is so scared. But Jesus went to the outcast and the outsider and the leper. He loved those who didn’t love him. Even those who wanted to kill him. I can’t look at what Jesus did and say, well…he wants me to do kind of what he did but be super responsible about it and make sure it’s not too dangerous. I just can’t. Thank you for this. If you don’t mind, can I put an excerpt on my blog and link to you here? Let me know if you’re ok with that. My people need to hear this too.
Thank you for writing exactly what my heart has been crying out for months now. I am not good with words but you were able to describe it perfectly for me. Thank you!
Yes, you said exactly what I’ve been thinking for awhile. We are so comfortable but Christ cares more about our character than our comfort.
The little I can do seems so so small. Thanks for sharing the Ghandi quote.
I’m thankful for your voice Kristen. We need to hear this!
WOW. Oliver’s comment about “Do they preach the same Jesus” really struck me. Our small, community church has grown over the years into a “mega church” with multiple campuses and that could be us with all the programs and stuff.
As far as the point of this goes . . . yes, I’m nervous about terrorism. Yes, I’m nervous about ISIS members using this an opportunity to gain entrance into our country BUT I’m more concerned about not following the command of Jesus to love our neighbor. The lawyer asked Him who is neighbor was and we got the parable of the Good Samaritan. We were told to “Go and do likewise”.
We can say that ISIS is America’s enemy, but Jesus also told us to love our enemy.
Nowhere does the Bible promise us safety and comfort (Oh, how we love those things as North Americans. I dare to say we’re even guilty of worshiping them.) I’d rather do what Jesus commands in regards to those who need help and take a few risks than to be perpetually safe and ignore His commands.
Some things American churches do never cease to amaze me. Instead of feeding the poor, witnessing to strangers, inviting others to church (preaching to myself here too) we pretend yoga isn’t Hindu or Buddhist worship and we do it in our churches. We pretend Halloween isn’t celebrated worldwide by witches and we hold trick or trunk in the church parking lot. We have our churches create academies so our kids don’t have to interact with the world. As someone who has lived on 3 different continents as a Christian, it’s shocking the length the American church goes to to avoid discomfort and to embrace good times.
May I suggest helping the Chaldean Christians that are about to be deported after being held in a California detention center for 6 months. At least our government isn’t sending them back to ISIS. These Iraqi Christians have truly fled persecution but they can’t stay here. Oh, no. Not in American. Help them, please.
Sometimes we also need to learn to crochet from a Hindu woman, or be met as refugees by a Buddhist resettlement worker (or experience something of the equivalent shift, role reversal from being the “helper” to allowing the other person’s dignity and skill to show us something.)
I mean, it’s not only give, it’s give-and-take where the dialogue between us opens up into sharing truth…
I’m sorry but I cannot fully and wholeheartedly agree with this naivete. The refugees that are coming in are primarily men as in 72% (mostly between the ages of 18-30) according to UNHCR. ISIS and terrorist groups like them are using this opportunity to place able bodied men into these countries for their militant purposes. We as Christians are called to be wise as well. I am not saying we shouldn’t help people in need but we have to be careful and have a systematic way of weeding out people who are trying to work the system.
This is probably THE most truthful and helpful piece I have read in a long time. If the truth is convenient do we really need to have faith to believe it? These trying times are revealing what people really believe and forcing us to choose if we really do choose to follow Jesus…or not. And I love that you talk about the feeling of frustration in not knowing what to do but the importance of making the choice to do *something* no matter how small it may seem. Excellent post..so well said!!
Yes! He has recently begun the process of pushing completely out if my comfort zone into some truly uncharted (for me) territory. . . . I have both incredible excitement and trembling as I progress into what will undoubtedly be the greatest adventure of my life!! ?