We Are Strangers Here

Sojourner. "A person who resides temporarily in a place."

For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. (Hebrews 13:14)

I don't know about you, but I love being home. Don't get me wrong, adventures are great! They give me life and something to look forward to, other than the dime a dozen, garden-variety routine of life. But after a day/week/month of adventuring, there's nothing like returning to my own humble abode. Maybe you feel me. This concept of savoring the places where we've settled down seems to be a pretty commonplace one. I think it's human nature. We value and appreciate having a place to rest and be rejuvenated.

Sometimes I find it difficult to live in a manner that portrays the truth that Paul tells the church in Jerusalem in Hebrews 13:14, that this world is not our true home. It's all we know. It's the place we often spend our whole lives crafting to fit us, whether that be through adornments, status, relationships, or achievements. But we are strangers here. We aren't citizens of this fallen earth, but citizens of the Kingdom of the Lord! And while there is no problem with decorating or raising up families or excelling in careers (in fact, there is great glory for God to gain through our doing these things), we must not forget that we are sojourners. We reside here in this place temporarily. This is the way that God, in His sovereignty and greatness, has designed us to live.

But there is another type of sojourner, a more literal one. In this point in history, moving from one place to another is easier than it has ever been. You can get to basically anywhere in the world in less than 48 hours.... 48 hours! That's insane! Whereas a few decades ago, some places were virtually impossible to get to, nowadays that's not the case. The peoples of the world are moving at a rate that is remarkable. I've noticed that this frightens some people, particularly Americans, as families and students and businesspeople from Asia and the Middle East pour into Western nations, sometimes by choice, sometimes because they have nowhere else to go. Why should this make us afraid? As for me, this gets me so excited that I just have to talk about it! (Which is the purpose of this blog.) The Great Commission in Matthew 28, in which Jesus commands His disciples to spread the Gospel to every far-flung nation and tribe and people group, and which has always been a command for us as well, has landed in our laps!

I want to point out that the Great Commission is not something that is only relevant to "missionaries." It isn't a suggestion ... something that if you feel that specific heart-tug, then it applies to you. If you call yourself a follow of Jesus, He commands you to make disciples of all nations. Obviously, this is done in many different ways. Not everyone can go live in a foreign country. Not everyone can learn a language or spend their life globetrotting for Jesus. But in America, the Church is oftentimes blissfully unaware of just how pressing this command is. Compared to the rest of the World Church, the amount of disciples we send out to the nations is pretty dang pitiful. I personally believe that this is one of the reasons why the American Church isn't transforming even it's own culture into Christ's-likeness. I also believe it's why God has seen fit to flood our country with immigrants, refugees, and people from all over the planet. We may be hesitant or unable to go to the far-reaches of the world. So God has brought them to us! What an amazing opportunity!

While we, as believers, are sojourners in a spiritual sense, these people are a literal representation of the word. Throughout the Old Testament, God told His people, the Israelites, again and again to care for the sojourner and the stranger, those who were not a member of the Hebrew people group. ("The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 19:34). This portrayed God's glory and love even then, as outsiders would experience Him through the people of Israel, and were not only cared for by them, but accepted into a family that was not their own. This is what God does for His children, and what He did for you and me. If this is how God expected His people to care for the outsiders among them, why should it not apply to us? We, too, are strangers in a strange land, living in a world that is not our own. Why should it not be a priority of our churches, our communities, our own personal lives, to welcome the foreigners well? If we truly desire to see God worshipped in every language and by every tribe and nation, let's make the most of this period that we are in. Let's allow God to work through us to draw the lost to His love! The nations are here!