Do You Understand?
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you
yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in
Egypt.” – Exodus 23:9
How quick we are to pick and choose which of the Old
Testament verses we’ll apply to our thoughts and opinions. We look past those
verses that differ from what we choose to believe. “Foreigners” are judged and
rejected without an ounce of compassion.
We justify our low opinions based on the rantings of a
few. Foreigners must work, we demand. They must refrain from sin, we spout.
They must follow our laws and our opinions and take the lowliest of jobs and
stay with their own kind and, well, you get it. We excuse our bad behavior, throwing
out the instances of crime that happen. Oh, that we would condemn similar crimes
among people like us.
The hard truth is that we will always reject those who
are different from us. We aren’t interested in debate or compassion or actually
reaching out to someone who merely needs a helping hand. We prefer to stay in
our comfortable recliners, watching Fox News and using evil tongues to throw
out Bible verses proclaiming a gospel we clearly don’t understand.
Jesus told us to love one another. How dare we think
that He somehow meant we get to pick and choose who. Shame on us all.
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