Take the “I Was a Stranger” Challenge
- Feb 28, 2013 -
Our nation is deeply immersed in a conversation about immigration reform. We are asking some very foundational questions about national values. Some are focused on the rule of law. Others are focused on human dignity. I get it.
My first reaction to this problem was probably what many listening to me thought as well. I was focused on their illegal status. I thought they should go back where they came from. I was offended that these millions of people had crossed our borders illegally or simply decided to stay here after their visas expired.
Listen to the audio of this commentary here.
But, regardless of how I felt, I needed to try to understand what was right in the eyes of God. After all, while I try to be a responsible citizen of this great nation, I have a higher duty to my calling as a Christian. So, I did what any conscientious Christian would do. I opened my Bible.
I decided to see what God told His own people to do about non-Jews living in the midst of the land that He gave His people. Soon, I came across these words in Leviticus 19:33 “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.” In the next verse, He says “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” God said they should love the stranger like they loved themselves.
When I read that, I was reminded of the words of Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus says the way I treat the stranger in my midst is a sign of my relationship with Him. He even says, “To the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” How Christians treat the stranger is a reflection of our attitude to the Lord Himself!
Scripture is clear: God cares about how we treat the stranger, the vulnerable person, in our midst. While I have a civil and Christian duty to uphold the law and to respect it, I also have a Christian duty to treat the person who is here illegally, who is living peacefully and productively among us, with compassion. There is a way to do both. Immigration reform can be both respectful of the rule of law and respectful of the stranger in our midst. I believe God would have us find that way.
If you are still trying to sort this out for yourself, would you accept my challenge to start with the Bible, as I did? There’s an easy way to do this. You can join me in the “I Was a Stranger” challenge. In the challenge, we’ll read forty Bible verses over forty days that address treatment of the stranger and ask God what He wants us to understand from those passages. I believe you will come to the same conclusion I and millions of others have come to. But that’s between you and God.
Are you up to the challenge? Just go to the Evangelical Immigration Table’s website and download the free bookmark with the Bible passages and start reading and praying for the next forty days. I am already excited for you. I believe you will be blessed as you open God’s Word and let Him speak. May the Lord bless you, my friend, as you seek to follow and obey our great Lord Jesus Christ.
Listen to the audio of this commentary here.
Dr. Barrett Duke is Vice President for Public Policy and Research for the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and also serves as Director of the Commission’s Research Institute of the ERLC. Read more of his work here. He is also a regular contributor to the For Faith and Family radio broadcast.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Faith, Bible, Citizenship, Immigration,