Victor Chininin Buele

A dear friend asked for my thoughts on the difficult subject of DACA.  I’m not precisely sure what perspective was sought, but this is clearly not something that can be easily typed on Facebook comments.

My thesis is that DACA is an opportunity for the United States to start moving towards repentance.  It is also an opportunity to give and receive grace.  DACA is not to be seen through the lenses of entitlement, and we need to be careful to not proclaim ourselves to be without sin on the subject.

Let me expand on that.

My friend was responding to somebody posting the following on Facebook:

So my house was broken into yesterday while I was at work. Don’t worry, George is ok [sic].

Fortunately, the alarm[sic] told me and Summit police apprehended a man with his 10 year old daughter ransacking the house.

The bad news is, my neighbors took a vote and decided the girl was innocent and only there because her dad brought her.  Now, I have to give her a room, feed her and pay for her to go to school.  Worse yet, since she would be abandoned if her dad goes to jail, he’s been found innocent and I have to let him stay with the girl and feed him too [punctuation sic].

If you think this sounds unfair, then you understand DACA.

A few starting points:

1. I am a naturalized United States citizen and a natural citizen of Ecuador.
2. It took more than fifteen years to become a United States citizen.
3. I have first-hand experience (though not in the first person) with what it is to be an illegal or an undocumented immigrant, semantics aside.  Don’t stop reading if I switch to using the word illegal below.  I have always sought to follow U.S. law.  Please forgive my uneasiness about using the word undocumented.
4. I have first-hand experience of the immigration system of the United States, and the high cost it demands from those who go through it.
5. I am a Christian.  I believe that the Word of God is true and God-breathed.  I believe it is authoritative. I believe that it is our guide and the revelation of Jesus Christ to all humankind.  It is in the Bible that we find the gospel–that we are sinners who cannot save themselves but who through the blood of Jesus Christ given in sacrifice on the cross can have their sins forgiven and can move forward on the path towards daily, practical sanctification, being transformed daily into the image of Christ, one degree of glory to the next.  In simple words, I believe what the Bible says, and I seek to do all things in a Christ-encompassing way.  All things in Christ for all the world.  I believe that if we do what God has revealed to us, God will be with us.
6. I have a bit of a personal crusade against caricatures and straw men arguments.  We have got to learn to listen to each other, understand another person’s opinions, and interact form that point of view.  We don’t get a pass to respond to the worst caricature of a position.

With all of that said, what do I think about DACA?

1.  We are all guilty of sin–we did not love our neighbor as ourselves.

There are many layers on which DACA shows us our sin. Many Americans never thought for a second about the children of immigrants, much less whether they were legal or illegal, as long as our toilets were clean, our strawberries were picked, our meat packaged by someone else.  For decades we allowed a system to exploit human beings who had a desperate need for hope.  Ecuador collapsed in the late 1990’s.  Many Ecuadorians lost everything, the savings of a lifetime.  Certain municipalities in New Jersey took the brunt of this crisis as they became little Ecuadors.  The economy of cities like New York have been built upon these people’s suffering.  You can only pay so much for a slice of pizza at Sbarro’s when you are walking through Times Square.  I am fairly certain that not very many stopped to think of the small town in Southern Ecuador that was left with no men as the man cutting your pizza left it all behind under horrific conditions to cross the Río Grande in hope of providing for his kids.  These kids were left behind, grew up with a grandmother at best, no parents, and were easy preys to all kinds of difficulty.  One day, the parents saved enough (or took on serious debt) to pay a coyote to get them across the border.  In hope.  We have to acknowledge that.  We did not love our neighbor as ourselves. We must realize that a big reason sanctuary cities are sanctuary cities is not because they are highly evolved, loving and caring, and all about social justice.  If people needed to pay for the real price of things in those economies, the entire economic dynamics would need to change.  In order to get a $1 burger, you can only pay somebody so much.  If everyone had the same rights and access to fair wages, i.e., if they had legal documents, the cost of said burger would be much higher.  Christ’s humility is radically different than ours.  In Philippians 2 we are called to imitate said humility that counts others as more significant than ourselves.  That’s so radical because we are always after finding the best deal for us.  Not for others.  We are guilty.

2. They broke the law.

Horrific economic conditions need to clearly be understood.  When you learn that somebody cleans toilets in the United States or washes dishes in the United States for more than you make a day in Ecuador, temptation becomes very real.  And then you hear that Pepito’s cousin and Maria’s sister made it across the border, and that they have a house in Queens.  The story is properly exaggerated to make it sound like they are the next Rockefellers.  You start thinking you can make it, too.  Coyotes come and promise you for a few thousand dollars to get you across the desert.  Let’s not kid ourselves.  The whole enterprise is highly illegal and dangerous, abusive and criminal.  It is sinful.  God will not look kindly upon coyotes at the judgment.  Those who steal from the needy and do violence are repulsive to God.  Yet, we also have to acknowledge that it is sufficiently clear for anyone entering into a contract or a transaction to come to the U.S. that the enterprise is illegal.  Everybody knows that it is against the law, and they know the risks of getting caught.  For the adults, it should be very straightforward.  They paid a coyote to help them break the law.  Yes, it was a horrific decision to be made and a painful one exasperated by a number of unthinkable circumstances.  But they were not coerced to do it. For their kids, the conversation turns a little sour.  We can argue degrees of innocence here until Kingdom comes, but I would simply want to say that there is a significant difference between sending an eight year old via the Mexican desert with a coyote and buying the kid a ticket on DL 680 from Quito to Atlanta.  The law was broken. And it is awful that these children had to endure many times the horrors of inhumane transportation conditions and living quarters, with limited or no water and/or food, prolonged time in the desert and exposure to the elements.

3. Most politicians are sinful opportunists.

We are where we are because politicians refused to enact national immigration law that made sense to the circumstances we had.  We were the rich Uncle Sam up north while our neighbors to the south literally starved to death.  Instead of owning their responsibility, they went down a different path–Leave it to the school districts to figure out how to hire ESL teachers, how to get ahold of parents who spoke no English, how to educate children with very little parental communication with the teachers.  Leave it to the local health departments to provide immunizations.  Leave it to the emergency rooms to deal with catastrophic health issues and non-so-catastrophic surprises.  Leave it to the states and charities to pay for births and WIC and food stamps.  Politicians sat on this and did nothing.  They have also sinned.

 

4.  We are called to love the widow, the immigrant, and the orphan.

Christianity necessarily results in love and care for the widow, the immigrant, and the orphan.  Many dreamers are practical or true orphans.  Many were raised without parents.  Many had parents who died crossing the border or in the dangerous work they had.  Many women were left as widows, affairs were had, marriage vows broken.  We cannot close doors upon the needy.

5.  DACA is a start, an insufficient start, but a start nonetheless.

I testify to you that being a legal immigrant has been a very difficult thing.  It has cost a lot of money, heartache, sorrow, embarrassment, time, and anxiety.  There is not a simple way to run through the rails of this system.  I have a college education, and my skills are highly valued in the current U.S. economy.  Even so, I had a lawyer malpractice scenario intersect with significant government delays, and I ended up becoming an illegal immigrant for two weeks.  Once my petition was resolved, it was retroactive, so this is not a part of my records today.  But trust me, the feeling I had when I was told to step away from my cubicle and leave, the feeling I had driving home knowing there would be no paycheck, the feeling I had coming home to my wife that day…

Life in the shadows is not a life.

Jesus came that his children would have life and live it to the fullest. He is the Good Shepherd.

DACA is an executive order.  Yes, you are certainly free to raise concerns about this being addressed as a presidential executive order rather than as legislation.  But in that debate we continue to ignore the fact that our democratically elected representatives and senators did nothing.

Repentance is necessary.

We need to repent of our lack of love for neighbor.

Undocumented workers need to repent of violating the law.

Dreamers need to repent, in certain cases, of entitlement.  Repentance is also needed from breaking the law.

Politicians need to repent of their sinful neglect of their responsibility.

 

And then.

Grace.

Grace must abound.

We must find a way to restore the repentant, to lift up the downcast, and to make amends.

But now, that everybody is all of a sudden in love with the dreamers, be careful to not forget grace and start acting all entitled. A lot of people are very compassionate now.  They want dreamers to be free. And that’s a noble thing.  But, repentance is required because we must all answer the question, where were we when these kids needed us the most?  Where were we when politicians refused to act upon immigration law reform that made sense and that would have helped everyone?

But let’s approach this with a sober mind.  Walking in repentance is difficult.

The economic balance of our cities is not going to be the same.

Prices will change.

We all need to own up our responsibilities and move forward in repentance.  The path for American citizenship is a very secondary matter compared to the path to everlasting joy in Christ.  Actions have consequences.  And without repentance there will be no joy.  Christ is light.  Whatever he touches will never be the same.

I dream of the moment where this America stops avoiding responsibility and repents and turns to love God, do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (cf. Micah 6:8).

I want the dreamers to have joy.  Not just a citizenship in a place that will not last for eternity.  I want them to be citizens of the kingdom that cannot be shaken.

We must press on to end this non-sensical political stalemate.  Lives matter more than political interests.  It was never said, “Blessed are those who seek their own self-interest and turn a blind eye on the needy, for they shall see God.”

 

 

 

After Joseph detained Simeon as collateral, he sent the other brothers to bring Benjamin back before establishing further trade between Jacob’s family and the Egyptians.  He sent them with the grain they had purchased, but he also secretly returned their payment as well.  In this way Joseph was able to bless his brothers, however, because the brothers could not fathom that the gesture was intentional blessing, they were terrified as they imagined that they would be accused of having cheated and stolen from the Egyptians.  Because of their fear, likely caused by the guilt they carried from their sin against Joseph, they cried out, “What has God done to us?”  Did you catch that?  Verse 25 says the returning of their money was something that was done for them, but they saw it as something done to them.

Do you sometimes think circumstances in your life are like a curse or a punishment because you fear one possible outcome?  Well, in the case of these brothers, and in your case, I’m glad the God of Life is the one who writes the end of our stories, and His children never have to fear the end of the story.

As it turned out, the brothers returned to Joseph with their youngest brother after they had fretted a good bit and eaten through the grain they purchased on the first trip.  They took twice the payment as before and were ready to grovel for mercy as they explained the “mistaken” returned payment to the steward of Joseph’s house.  He told them, “Peace to you, do not be afraid.  Your God and the God of our father has put treasure in your sacks for you.  I received your money.”  The brothers met Joseph again, ate as his guests, and were prepared for their return trip, but this time Joseph’s slight-of-hand was a test, not just a blessing.

Joseph had his steward frame the youngest brother, Benjamin as a thief, and when Joseph made the accusation, the brothers protested that none of them would steal from him, but that if any were found to be guilty of the crime, they would surrender to punishment of death.  Well, once the “stolen” property was discovered in Benjamin’s possession, the brothers all lost it.  They pleaded with Joseph for mercy for the sake of their aged and bereaved father.  Maybe it was this very compassion on Jacob, which was not a concern for these same brothers when they staged Joseph’s death all those years before, that fully broke Joseph.

Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, forgave them, absolved them from shame, exalted God’s sovereignty, begged them to receive the blessing of his provision during the remaining years of famine, and showered them with affection.  Honestly, if this all happened within a matter of minutes like the text seems to suggest, I feel bad for those overwhelmed brothers!  They had willfully committed some heinous sin, it’s true.  But they had lived in the darkness of shame and fear, slaves to Satan’s accusations for more than a decade.  Then, all of a sudden, the lights of love and forgiveness were switched on, and did they ever blaze with God’s glory!  That must have been a completely overwhelming moment for them.

In the end, Jacob was told the incredible story of Joseph in Egypt, and he even made the journey to see his long lost son for himself.  The whole family was resettled closer to the food stores in Egypt and worked as shepherds over the flocks of Pharaoh.  It became clear to those who once scoffed at the dreams once told by the young Joseph that such dreams  were actually a promise of blessing, not a threat of domination.  And that, my friends, is the goodness of this God of Life.  His authority is over all, and His generosity is beyond anything you can imagine.

The text discussed above can be found in Genesis 42:26-47:12.  I apologize for not including it in its entirety here, but I encourage you to read it directly from God’s Word.

How do you know when you can trust someone?  Is it when they deliver on their promise?  Well, that’s not really trust, is it?  That would be a transaction.  Trust is knowing that the one who is promising something has the desire and the power to complete the promised action.  Of course, having seen the person fulfill other promises in the past certainly doesn’t hurt either.

What trust does not mean is that we will get some sort of plan of action report so we can understand how the promise will be fulfilled.  That’s the hardest part when I have to trust.  For some reason, I, like Abram, forget all too often how much God has done without my help.  I feel like I constantly need to be sent out to count the stars that God made and put in their places so I remember that His promises in my non-cosmically-foundational life will be fulfilled.  He has done so much to keep me alive and to bless me beyond anything I could ever deserve, that I can trust, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that whatever fear of lacking or loss that Satan wants me to agonize over, God can and will either spare me from it or carry me through it.

“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’  But Abram said, ‘O, Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’  And Abram said, ‘Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.’  And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: ‘This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.’  And he brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’  Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’  And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”  – Genesis 15:1-6

Something that I love about God is that He will often do something for me that He had kept me from doing before.  For example, maybe you really want a certain job.  You do everything in your power to get that job, but they hire someone else.  Then one day – maybe weeks later, maybe years later – you get a call, and it’s about the job.  They want you, no competition necessary.  Why would God keep you from the job at first, just to give it to you later?  Maybe it was the timing, or maybe it was your intent that didn’t line up with His design.  That second possibility is what we will look at in the text today.

Just a chapter before Abram comes into the picture, we have the history of Babel (see my previous post entitled The God of Life is Patient).  God halted the plans of the masterminds behind the tower to heaven for a couple of reasons, one of which was their desire to make a name for themselves.  Specifically, they wanted to defy God’s command to spread out and fill the earth.  And now, with Abram?  Check out the text below.  God tells Abram in no uncertain terms that He (God) wants to make Abram’s name great.  Don’t miss why God wants to do this.  This isn’t a trick.  God wants to use the greatness of Abram’s name – the nation that his family will be made into by God’s power – in order that it will be a blessing to all of the families on earth.  That includes you, me, your best friend, and your worst enemy.  God’s purpose in setting Abram apart is not elitism or favoritism; it is a matter of blessing for everyone on Earth.

“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'” – Genesis 12:1-3

God had only ever given good gifts – compassion, empowerment, mercy, truth, unity, and life, among others – to the men and women on earth, but there came a time of such great revolt against holiness that wickedness flooded the earth.  Yes, before the waters of judgment overcame them, the the people had already drowned themselves in a flood of godlessness.  Their desire was for the things of death, and the God of Life was grieved by this.

How do you react in grief?  There are a number of common emotions people generally have while grieving, but God is not like us.  He doesn’t react with emotions.  He responds with righteousness.  You see, while we like to think we can declare what is fair, God designed Justice.  When wickedness is the desire of the people, the Lord’s grief is deeper than any heartbreak we can know, and His actions are more pure than anything we are capable of.  His destruction is not a fit.  That is how sinful man reacts.  His judgment is just, and the judgment that destroyed the wicked during Noah’s time is a merciful caution for us today.

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.  So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them’  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”  – Genesis 6:5-8

Cain’s life can be almost painful to read.  Have you ever read a report of someone that is so shameful, and yet they are so unaware of their shame, that you just have to wince for them?  This is one way to read the saga of Cain.  After murdering his brother, Cain responds to God Himself with what seems, at best, a rude and deceitful response.  He spoke this way to the Creator God.  This might be where I winced.  When God approached Cain’s parents, Adam and Eve, after they first sinned, God asked them where they were, and they at least answered honestly and feared the Lord their God.

What is quite amazing is that God does not smite Cain right then and there.  No, in fact, he uses this train-wreck of an interaction to teach Cain about the just actions He (God) must take to discipline him (Cain).  God tells Cain that the earth would no longer provide him with food.  And Cain’s response to this is that God has been too harsh.  Can you imagine talking back to a judge in a court of law this way?  Wince again over here.  And he goes on.  Now, Cain claims, he will be killed as he wander about.  Clearly he does not wish for himself what he did to his brother.

Now God, in His incredible compassion, says no.  No, Cain, you who killed your own brother will not be killed at the hands of another.  Here is where my self-righteous wincing changes to the sinking of my heart as I realize I am just as brazen as this fool named Cain, and God has had compassion on me, too.

“Then the Lord said, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’  He said, ‘ I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’  And the Lord said, ‘What have you done?  The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.  And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength.  You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.’  Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear.  Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden.  I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’  Then the Lord said to him, ‘Not so!  If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.’  And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.  Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”  – Genesis 4:9-16

God gave the blessing of two sons to Adam and Eve–first Cain, then Abel.  Both brothers made an offering to the Lord, but the Lord only found Abel’s pleasing.  The text shows that God, in His wisdom and understanding of Cain’s heart, spoke to him, instructing Cain that his shortcoming in the offering didn’t have to turn into bitterness and revenge.  God empowered Cain to stand firm, humble and obedient, fleeing from Satan’s newest ploy to ensnare him (Cain) in the web of death.  God instructed Adam to rule over the animals of the Earth, and here God tells Cain to rule over the sinful impulses that desire to destroy him.

Unfortunately, Cain did not heed the Lord’s caution.  Instead of ruling over sin, he was ruled by violence and killed his brother, likely believing Satan’s second-oldest lie–that killing another person will better one’s own standing.

“And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.  So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.  The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?’  If you do well, will you not be accepted?  And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.’ “Cain spoke to Abel his brother.  And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.” – Genesis 4:4b-8

God gave mankind literally everything, except that one tree.  God spoke truth when He told Adam that he would die if he ate of or touched it.  The man and his wife had taken the whole world of blessing that God had given them freely, and exchanged it for one big fat lie.  Not only did they not become like God when they obeyed His enemy, but they became broken images of their Father, suffering in ways they never had before under the Creator’s care.

Even considering this great betrayal, God showed them mercy.  How?  Before God pronounces the consequence of their sin to Adam and Eve, God addresses the Great Deceiver:

“The Lord God said to the serpent;

‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;  he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’’ -Genesis 3:14

God shows mercy by making Satan the greater curse.  Adam and Eve were still sentenced to expulsion from God’s garden and eventual death after great suffering, but he did not turn His full wrath against their full rebellion.  He had mercy on them to give them time.  Time for what?  The same thing He still gives us time for today – repentance.

God speaks truth.  Satan speaks lies.  The wickedness of Satan is so vile because he strikes an accusatory blow at God’s own character right out of the gate.  He misdirects the man and the woman with blatant falsehood.  When the woman corrects him, as he may well have expected, he begins the seduction.  What God has told you isn’t true, he interjects. In fact, what God says will cause you harm will actually give you what God has, which obviously is better than what you currently have.

Essentially, Satan frames God as a liar and a hoarder of good gifts.  This devastating scene shows us the deadliness of Satan’s intent – pitting man and woman against the God who loves them and has given them everything.  Satan leads us to believe that God’s way actually keeps blessing from us, and he promises that we can trust him (Satan) to give us the better deal.  Beware, my friend.  Satan is not benevolent.  His joy is your captivity. His pride is in making you think how bright you are as you enter into his snare.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the filed that the Lord God had made.

‘He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?’  And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’  But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.  And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

Genesis 3:1-7  ESV

When God created man, man wasn’t really alone.  God was with him.  However, God, in infinite love, personally designed the right mate, a woman – beautiful, capable, and a pure blessing.  They were the original bread and butter.  Made for one another.  God’s harmonious masterpiece.  This epic surprise did not come because the man complained of some lacking in God’s brand new world.  He was already working in and enjoying life in the garden.  Then God completed his magnum opus, even as the man slept.  The man was amazed by the woman, and their union was complete.  They had been made for each other, and no substitute would do.  As their bodies became one, their unity showed God’s glory.  He created them, and they rejoiced together in His perfect design, giving thanks.

“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’  Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.  And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.  The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.  But for Adam there is not found a helper fit for him.  So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.  And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.  Then the man said,

‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  An the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

Genesis 2:18-25 ESV