One week ago, President Trump issued an executive order temporarily banning “immigrants” and “non-immigrants” from seven countries for the subsequent 90 days and suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for a minimum of 120 days. Protests ensued, detainees were released, and federal judges took a stance, but if this country’s division was evident before, my tiny section of America has made it clear that the gulf now gapes at widths precarious for those on either side. Deeply-rooted fear, rational or not, is here.
This post has taken me over a week to formulate. I would prefer to give tangible answers of how I’ve sought and now understand the key to responding correctly to politics. I’d prefer to.
But I am the child, friend, and teacher of immigrants, I am an American who desires a safe future for myself and those I love, and I am a Christian whose hope is to shine for Jesus. How do I reconcile those parts into a whole?
I have listened to atheists, Christians, Muslims, Jews, agnostics, individuals of all different sexual orientations and gender identifications, educators, the educated, and both the blue- and white-collared, and their hearts make sense in one facet or another. So how do I find an answer for myself?
A sign in one of my favorite coffee shop’s restroom reads “Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly”.
This verse comes from the Bible’s Book of Micah. God is speaking to the Israelites, calling them on trial for their disobedience, dissatisfaction, and disrespect. He reminds them of His faithfulness and mercy in bringing them out of Egypt and consistently protecting and blessing them.
The Prophet Micah asks God what, in light of all His mercies and blessings, would satisfy Him.
“With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
And God answers with oft-quoted Micah 6:8 –
“He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
Thomas Constable’s Expository says, “There is a progression in these requirements from what is external to what is internal and from human relations to divine relations. Doing justice toward other people demands loving kindness, which necessitates walking humbly in fellowship with God.”
The bottom line is that I don’t know what to do. I have no plan of action that every Christian should march upon. I cannot tell you an exhaustive list of do’s and don’ts. I will not tell America to freely take in foreigners as God did and does because it is not the same. I will not tell America to shut her doors and give her people the guarantee of everlasting peace and protection that God has and will continue to offer to all His children.
But the overarching idea is that in light of what God has done for us all, we must individually and collectively seek His guidance on what it looks like to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.
How do you treat immigrants, refugees, Muslims, the LGBTQ community, women, police, and blacks? The same way God has called us to treat everyone else, and certainly, as Ethan wrote over the summer of 2015, with empathy.
Are my actions just?
Have I given mercy?
Do I walk humbly?
Not one exists without the other.
One thing remains: in, out, and up, seek the example of Jesus Christ.
