As we deal with widely televised acts of terrorism (which usually pale in significance and scope to those that aren’t televised), we hear that western civilization is being overrun with barbarians. The current “barbarian horde” is mostly composed of Muslims. People are afraid that all these Muslims are coming to kill us, to make us convert to Islam, to impose Sharia on us, to end the American Way of Life As We Know It.

Surely there are a few Muslims out there who have claimed they want to do these kinds of things. None of the Muslims I’ve known over the years have been in their number, and I’m not paranoid enough to say they’re just amazingly deceptive.

But what if they – or other foreigners – are coming to our western countries now? My response is determined by my commitment to Jesus. Jesus calls me to make disciples of all nations. Some nations are mighty hard to get to. Some, in fact, make the work of making disciples of Jesus illegal. So guess what Jesus is doing now: He’s sending people from those countries here! You’d think Jesus must be a genius! He wants Christians to be his witnesses to all people, even people in hard-to-reach countries. We haven’t gone (expense, laziness, fear), do he sends them to us. What better strategy could he have?

So what do we do in response? We still hold on to our laziness and fear to keep them isolated and away from us? If we Christians weren’t so tepid and weak in our faith, we’d be rejoicing that Jesus has sent so many non-Christians to be our neighbors. I still remember how Keith Green put it years ago.