On one side of the fence the treasure is found in the exorbitant cost of building and maintaining a barrier of the border, and on the other side, the main focus is on self.
This is how illegal immigration affects me.
My job.
My country.
My resources.
Protect what is mine.
A lot of bickering back and forth from each camp, with the latest reason for disagreement being the issue of a wall. But there really doesn’t even have to be a concrete reason for conflict; one would be concocted eventually. You see, the issue isn’t really with a wall, whether it’s built or whether it isn’t. In truth, the barrier is already up.
Why is the government shut down? The wall has already been built.
We’ve been watching its erection for some time, many of us like myself, wishing to cover our eyes because the reality of it burns the retinas. I’ve seen it laid stone by stone, over the past two years especially, the current president simply being the political pony the world uses to further its agenda of division.
Not my president!
This is how I’m personally affected by the presidency. This is how I feel violated. This is how I feel persecuted. This is how I feel I am the victim of racism. And no race or belief is left out of this certainty of victimhood. We all can see how we have been mistreated as an individual or particular group, no one else can clearly see our plight, and to try and say they can is insensitive and ludicrous. Deplorable, you might say.
So selfish brick by self-centered stone we erect the wall to separate fellow man. The left side, the right side? It doesn’t matter which side you stand on when you are sure it’s the right (correct) one, the winning one. Satan dances a jig as the demons play the fiddle, and the wall is gaining height. Up and up it goes, built on a foundation of rising racial tension, bricks held together by issues of choice versus those of morality. Gun control, women’s rights, abortion. Lies, half-truths, sexual harassment, me too, black lives matter. If a hashtag can serve as a wedge it can work as a stone to fling, and flung onto the wall that divides us it goes. Higher and higher, like the Tower of Babel, reaching to Heaven, and threatening to fall and crush us all.
When Jesus said, “truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” He wasn’t just talking about the Mexican immigrants trying to cross the border like some camps may utilize scripture to suggest. If He spoke of immigrants He was speaking of us all. You see, we are all immigrants in a foreign land called earth. We are all wandering lost in a wasteland of sin, and only when we find the righteousness of forgiveness in Jesus will we be home. We’re all traveling to The Promised Land. Some of us just don’t realize it. We don’t realize we’re foreigners, immigrants, or wanderers without a final resting place. And it’s up to those of us immigrants who have been enlightened to God’s truth to show the way home to everyone else. Instead, we’re building a wall.
My eternity.
My salvation.
My home in Heaven.
Don’t you reckon God wants us all to come home? Doesn’t He want everyone to make the pilgrimage through the fall of Adam into the saving grace of Jesus? Wouldn’t He desire us to stop building walls between believers, nonbelievers, brothers, sisters, and the least of these? I guess we’ve gone so blind that we think an actual, concrete wall is what’s most important. We think political issues or utilization of our resources (that are here today and gone tomorrow) will mean a hill of beans when He returns.
I’m not saying border security isn’t a real issue that needs addressing! And I’m not saying to bury our heads in the sand over the atrocities of abortion law. What I am saying is don’t forget that in the midst of all the issues there are foreigners who have lost their way, and they need a bright and shining beam of truth to lead them home. They need to be fed. The words of Jesus, not mine. They need to be clothed in righteousness. They need to be given shelter in the safety of His wings. But we’ll never be able to attend to anyone if a wall is blocking the way. Do you understand?
We have to start tearing down some bricks. I’m not sure of the best way to get that started, but love seems like a viable option. If you’re speaking and it’s not in love then I guess it’s nothing but a clanging cymbal. And I sure have heard a lot of clanging [this] past couple of years. Before we halt everything to hash it out about building a new wall we might need to disassemble the one we’ve already built. God is calling us to build bridges, not walls. We’re doing an awful job.
I pray we can open our eyes to the immigrants within our borders, the immigrant within us all, the immigrant on the other side of your political affiliation, the immigrant who longs to feast at the Father’s table. It’s a great banquet, He’s invited everyone, and He certainly doesn’t need us keeping anyone out of His kingdom.
