Day 36: The foreigner in our land
Leviticus 19:33 says that if a stranger dwells temporarily with you in your land, you shall not suppress and mistreat him. Instead, the stranger who dwells with you shall be to you as one that is born among you.
“You shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:34)
Singapore has the wonderful privilege of hosting the nations within the nation. In 1978, the famous evangelist Billy Graham was said to have called Singapore the Antioch of Asia. Many nations have come to our land to find livelihoods to fulfil their dreams of giving their families a better life.
I believe that God has presented His Church here in Singapore with the opportunity to do global missions locally.
Today, we don’t need to take a flight to do missions. God has presented His Church with this opportunity of a lifetime to do missions in our backyard. In the passage we read, God gave the Israelites a command: Do not mistreat the foreigners in your land but, instead, love them as yourselves.
I believe that this is God’s heart concerning the foreigners in our land, that we, the Church, are to love them and to care for them. Singapore has more than one million foreigners residing and working in our land. A third of our workforce are foreigners, many of whom do dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs to keep Singapore going.
What can the Church in Singapore do to love them as family and to care for these guest workers in our land? As the Scripture mentions, you shall love them as yourselves. I believe that we should do to them what we want others to do to us.
God has presented His Church here in Singapore with the opportunity to do global missions locally.
We, the Church, should have a culture of honour and appreciation towards these guest worker brothers and sisters. Honour them with simple gestures of love. Honour them by making them a card, or present them with a gift expressing appreciation for their contribution to Singapore.
Sometimes, even just enquiring about their well-being makes them feel appreciated. One of the more personal ways of showing love with appreciation is to invite these guest worker brothers or sisters to our homes for a meal.
Let them know that they are important to us. I believe the church can disciple the nations within our nation by loving them first and through the expression of love, show them Jesus through our love.
The greatest gift we could give is the gift of salvation. I believe that the Church can bless these guest workers.
I follow a simple acronym called B.L.E.S.S.
- Begin by praying for them. Pray for their well-being, pray for their safety, pray for their health, pray for their families.
- Listen to them, to their hearts’ cry.
- Eat with them. Have a meal with them, it is a personal experience for them.
- Serve them, serve their needs.
- Share your testimony. Share what Jesus has done in your life and I believe these seeds sown will bear fruit.
How can we honour and appreciate the guest worker brothers and sisters in our midst? How can we show them how good Jesus has been to us? Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, we thank You for these guest worker brothers and sisters in our midst. We thank You for bringing them to this nation. Thank You for giving us this opportunity to love them and to care for them.
Help us, O God, to love them as ourselves and to care for them. Above all, help us to show them Jesus through our life. Give us this grace.
In Jesus’ name we pray amen.
Download the PDF version of today’s devotional here.