No One Can Have It

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Growing up, I don't recall experiencing many fights with my siblings. There was such an age gap between us that they normally treated me as if I were their own child. I never truly understood the sibling rivalry until I had kids of my own. My oldest daughter is three and my youngest is one and they fight more than Mike Tyson in his prime.

It annoys me as a father to see them fight over things that I bought for the both of them. I finally understand what my parents meant when they would barge in my room whenever I was arguing over the ownership of something with my siblings and proceed to tell me that the entire house was actually theirs. It seems as though that imaginary veil was removed from my eyes once I fathered children of my own.

Oddly enough, Christians can be seen doing this same thing each day -- taking ownership of a place that is not even supposed to be their home.

1 For we know that if the tent which is our earthly home is destroyed (dissolved), we have from God a building, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5:1 AMPC

Our views on foreigners are so harsh, not realizing that we to claim to be from a foreign place ourselves.

15 For we are strangers before You, and sojourners, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope or expectation of remaining. 1 Chronicles 29:15 AMPC

Isn't it odd that most Christians will proclaim that the entire earth belongs to God and then simultaneously claim that no one has the right to come into "their" country?

1 The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the currents and the rivers. Psalms 24:1-2 AMPC

There is a constant clash between the contradicting morals and values imposed on us by the governments of this world versus those of the government that Jesus brought on His shoulders.

2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. Romans 12:2 AMPC

Paul actually says that once we become loyal servants of Jesus that we should not even concern ourselves with the affairs or (politics) of this world.

3 Take [with me] your share of the hardships and suffering [which you are called to endure] as a good (first-class) soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier when in service gets entangled in the enterprises of [civilian] life; his aim is to satisfy and please the one who enlisted him. 2 Timothy 2:3-4 AMPC

We also see that true followers of Christ in the Bible did not even take ownership of lands and houses that they actually purchased themselves. So how much less of a thought would they take in the ownership of a country considering that their faith guarantees that they have indeed been given a better one?

32 Now the company of believers was of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything which he possessed was [exclusively] his own, but everything they had was in common and for the use of all. Acts 4:32 AMPC

The Great Commission is to go and make disciples of each nation, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. With this in mind, we too would become foreigners if our eyes were set to do the will of God.

19 Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them [a]into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you [b]all the days ([c]perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. [d]Amen (so let it be). Matthew 28:19-20 AMPC

The sad reality is that God is actually foreign to a lot of people who claim to know Him and His words have not found a home in their hearts. Perhaps our stance on immigration has become so strong because we truly do not actually see Heaven as being our home. In the midst of chaos, we are called to be peacemakers. In the midst of crisis, we are called to be the light in a fallen, dark world. In the midst of the homeless crisis running rampant in America, our Bible calls us to house those strangers.

34 Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you [a] favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you [b]brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and [c]lodged Me, 36 I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me [d]with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me. Matthew 25:34-36 AMPC

I don't recall the Good Samaritan asking the stranger where he was from but rather trying to focus on giving him what was needed.

29 And he, [a]determined to acquit himself of reproach, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor ? 30 Jesus, [b]taking him up, replied, A certain man was going from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him of his clothes and belongings and beat him and went their way, [[c]unconcernedly] leaving him half dead, as it happened. 31 Now by [d]coincidence a certain priest was going down along that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 A Levite likewise came down to the place and saw him, and passed by on the other side [of the road]. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled along, came down to where he was; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity and sympathy [for him], 34 And went to him and dressed his wounds, pouring on [them] oil and wine. Then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii [two day’s wages] and gave [them] to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I [myself] will repay you when I return. Luke 10:29-35 AMPC

We see in this parable that this guy helped someone who had a different nationality and religion from him. Jesus ends this parable commanding us to be like the Good Samaritan who didn't take into consideration their differences but instead offered the love of God to a complete stranger.

We must take a step back and see how many of the people we claim to believe in actually spent a majority of their lives as people in foreign lands.

14 Now those people who talk as they did show plainly that they are in search of a fatherland (their own country). 15 If they had been thinking with [homesick] remembrance of that country from which they were emigrants, they would have found constant opportunity to return to it. 16 But the truth is that they were yearning for and aspiring to a better and more desirable country, that is, a heavenly [one]. For that reason God is not ashamed to be called their God [even to be surnamed their God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob], for He has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:14 AMPC

Much similar to a father watching his kids argue back and forth over things he actually owns, we must consider the heart of God as He watches us take ownership of lands He has allowed us to dwell in. Much similar to a father taking a toy away from two kids fighting, we too should expect God to take action over this land we have called our own and forgotten His love and compassion.

47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of [mind and] heart [in gratitude] for the abundance of all [with which He had blessed you], 48 Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things; and He will put a yoke of iron upon your neck until He has destroyed you. 49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand, 50 A nation of unyielding countenance who will not regard the person of the old or show favor to the young, 51 And shall eat the fruit of your cattle and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed, who also shall not leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your cattle or the young of your sheep until they have caused you to perish. 52 They shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you. Deuteronomy 28:47-52 AMPC

We should have compassion for those who are out of place, rejected by society. Jesus not only made it His priority to help the less fortunate, He actually tells us that He, too, identifies with them. He follows this up by saying, "whatever you did for the least of these, you've done to Me." Jesus came to this earth, a foreign place, and was hated and kicked out, tortured because no one understood Him. We must understand that whatever we do to the least of these we are also doing to Him.

41 Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! 42 For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me [l]with help and ministering care. 44 Then they also [in their turn] will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? 45 And He will reply to them, Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least [[m]in the estimation of men] of these, you failed to do it for Me. 46 Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life. Matthew 25:41-46 AMPC

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Question of the day: How would you feel if someone took ownership of something that was yours?