FOREIGNERS
Today's reading: Leviticus 19-21
"Do not exploit the foreigners who live in your land." Leviticus 19:33 NLT
Living in the greatest country in the world leaves our nation as a goal for so many people.
People who have it hard in their homeland.
People who fear for their lives in their native countries.
People who cannot get out of a social class, a political oppression or an extremely low lifestyle where they were born.
So they reach out to our nation. They seek asylum. They seek refuge. They seek what the American dream offers.
I choose not to get political here, but I will get biblical...
Do not exploit the foreigners who live in your land.
You'd never, you say?
I think we do when we badmouth a 'group' and don't base our assumptions on the individual.
I think we do when we assume 'they' are only worthy of low income positions or menial tasks.
I think we do when we consider ourselves to be even a smidge better than they.
I think we do when we crack jokes, make unkind comments or refer to them in a less than kind way.
When God gave the Israelites the command not to exploit the foreigners in the new land they were entering, He intended that they treat them with human decency and in a godly manner--in an attempt to win some of them over to Him.
Aren't His words true for us today?
