Keeping the Love Within
The Border Patrol and the Executive Order - Newsweek
How dependent are you on others?
Can you make a living without others? Can you grow and prepare your own food, do your own laundry, repair your home or car, raise a family, can you live?
Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly towards outsiders and be dependent on no one. - 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
At the end of today's excerpt from Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, he tells the members of the church to be dependent on no one.
He is talking about outsiders. Love each other more, work together, treat others with respect, but don't be dependent on them. Depend only on each other.
Is that a good recipe for us to follow today? Did he really want the early Christians to stay separate from the rest of the world?
The early stories of the Jewish People as told in The Bible are lessons in living within walls. of fortifying and overrunning your borders.
Even today, we draw lines on a map, but that doesn't guarantee the serenity or sovereignty of the people within. Many lives have been lost protecting and defending those lines, and we continue to hold them sacred, more sacred than life itself.
It seems odd when we look at it that way, but in a way it is exactly what Paul was talking about when he said to be dependent on no one. Behave properly toward outsiders, but keep the love within.
So, how should we look at our own borders? Should we continue to see those on the other side as outsiders, or do we welcome them in, accept them as part of the family, do more than behave properly toward them?
It's not an easy question to answer, is it? We may even have two different views about it. We can be certain how we feel when other countries seek to recover lost ground, assimilating former comrades into their borders, rebuilding empires.
Some people say that this country was formed on Christian values, and that statement gets many people upset, but I wonder what is meant by it. If Paul's advice is any indication, we may have our doubts about how we live and whether we accept or reject others.
I guess, we could make the argument either way. We could be the refugee center for the world or we could find other ways to treat the outsiders properly. So, maybe our values aren't as aligned to our faith as we thought.
More to come...