Who Is My Neighbor? Better Information Means Better Compassion

But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Luke 10:29

The New Odyssey

Just finished reading The New Odyssey: The Story of the Twenty-First Century Refugee Crisis. Patrick Kingsley's reporting goes beyond information to find the heart of the story, the individuals and families who seek asylum from political upheaval and terrorism.

In addition to telling a captivating story, this book is a vital handbook to response for elected officials, students, humanitarian volunteer workers, prayer warriors, donors, voters, and people who simply want to be better informed about their world. Teachers of current events and world history in public high schools should consider making this book part of the curriculum.

Reading this book did not change my mind about what I think my own response to the refugee crisis ought to be. It informed my thinking and (although it is not a religious book) reinforced my belief that Christ calls us to compassion more often than to safety. If my neighbor is in need, I hope to be a Christian who shares what she has, rather than one who shuts the door and ignores my neighbor's knocking.

Who is my neighbor? The example of Jesus and the parables He told reveal that we must sometimes cross cultural and religious "borders" to help our neighbors. If biblical precedent is not enough, may books like The New Odyssey help believers everywhere to set aside their fears, cross borders, and offer aid to the world's most vulnerable.

Link Love

Follow Amy on Goodreads.

On March 8, read Amy's guest blog post "Getting To Conflict: The Absolute Necessity of Unpleasantness in Fiction" on The Artist Unleashed.

A Call to Christian Teachers

'. . .your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, “Be gone!”'

Isaiah 30:20b-22

The headlines are bleak. The world is shifting. It's easy to be discouraged by the way Christians specifically and Conservatives generally are being actively targeted. The Left is stepping up its game. Where is God?

The passage from Isaiah 30 is a glimpse of God's heart for Israel, and by extension, for Gentile believers. The world can shift its values, but we are asked not to follow--not to turn to the right or to the left. In fact, we are to live lives that are purer and higher, defiling our own idols, scattering them, disowning them. In a time when the world has disowned the concept of Sin, we are asked to be iconoclasts, smashers of idols.

The idols we have allowed ourselves have to go. Whatever it is that takes our eyes off God and our God-given calling has to go. A big thing can be an idol--envy, lust, self. A little thing like an iPhone can make a very pretty idol, too.

The world doesn't know where it's going or what it's doing. It just wants to go anywhere, so long as it's away from God. It'll take us all with it if it can. We have to stand somewhere and draw a line. We have to walk a path that God has blessed: "This is the way, walk in it."

We have to make the decision for ourselves. I can't force you and you can't force me. I hope that when I'm no longer here and my children have to choose to live for God or live for idols, they'll choose the right path, the one Way.

And these are things I can't mull over with my students, since I am a public school teacher who abides by the law. If it means so much to me to light the way to God for others, how can I stay in this line of work? How can I be at peace when I have to hold my peace to keep my job?

The answer is faith. One of my heroes is Christian missionary martyr Jim Elliot, who said,

"Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

We must do all for the glory of God and do it diligently. Examples abound of Christians who said not a word but were lights for the Gospel.

Another missionary hero, Olympic athlete Eric Liddell, said,

“I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast! And when I run I feel his pleasure.”

Are you a writer? Write for God, every word, whether it be a grocery list or an editorial. Are you a teacher? Teach for Him. Your students may not hear you speak of your God, but they will learn of Him by knowing you. Faith makes it possible. Teachers, we can't see the path to its end, but there will be a voice behind us saying, "This is the way, walk in it."

And we do not walk by sight. We walk by faith.

A Prayer for Students and Teachers in Danger

Dear Lord,

The headlines remind us that spiritual warfare is real, though public figures scratch their heads and wonder why peace eludes the grasp of the desperate world. Christ's followers worldwide are under attack for their beliefs. Some of them are students. Some are teachers. Watch over your sheep with your protective care. Remind us that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood. Remind us that "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." Give us courage to face each school day. Help us to show forth your love for people so that this desperate world will have light. Grant wisdom and grace as the birth pangs of the age grow closer together. We long for your appearing, Lord.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen