Eighty-five percent of the world’s refugees are Muslims, many of whom are fleeing from other Muslims.
Racism is the force that divides people into factions and sets them against one another. Today, racism is killing people that we don’t know. Tomorrow it may kill all of us.
Those of us who follow Jesus did not accept Him so that we might remain hostile toward people who are “not our kind.” Jesus Christ bewildered his fellow Jews by treating everyone with love and respect. He performed miracles among the Samaritans and Gentiles. It baffled everyone, even His disciples.
From far away, all Muslims might look the same. But those who live among them see that they carry deep resentment toward Muslims who come from different tribes or different sects of Islam. The vein of racism runs so deep that it drives them to expel their own spiritual siblings from their homes and country. Entire cities are being wrecked by racism.
How is it that Muslims, who make up 20% of the global population, account for 85% of the world’s refugees? This figure doesn’t take into account the many Muslim families fleeing their homes but never crossing an international border. The UN calls these internally displaced people. In Syria, there are more than 6 million internally displaced Muslims.
The Bible teaches us to treat refugees with respect and justice, for “you were foreigners in Egypt” (Exodus 22:21). Jesus Christ spoke about His “other sheep that are not of this fold;” He said, “I must bring them also” (John 10:16).
Jesus didn’t die on the cross just for me and for you. He also died to reunite the peoples of the world. Only the love of Christ can make us love the people who are not our kind. Muslims need Jesus—the same as we do, the same as all people do. With Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and teacher, we can finally purge racism from our midst.
Until then, people will continue to live in the tattered remains of racism.
“Frontiers already has workers on the ground when a crisis happens in the Muslim world,” said a leader with a Christian relief organization. “Work with Frontiers, and you’ll be a first responder.”
But there is little room in my heart for celebration until Muslims experience the power of the Gospel. Living and serving in Muslim countries among homeless refugees and displaced peoples is what we will continue to do.
Discover how a Frontiers team is bringing physical health and spiritual transformation to refugee women by clicking the button below.
Original article: www.frontiersusa.org/blog/article/the-85-percent
