Misplaced mercy?

Our soon to be border czar has a very tough job ahead of him, made even tougher by misplaced mercy. 

Former ICE director Tom Homan has been charged by President-elect Trump with the task of securing our border and deporting illegal immigrants, and many well-meaning people have vowed to stand in his way. They know that whole families will be uprooted and forced to return to a country they left, hoping for a better life. And that just seems cruel and unfair.

But is it? It’s inconvenient; it’s unpleasant; it’s hard. But is it cruel? The ultimate question is, is it morally right, or wrong?

My goal with this post is not to answer that question necessarily but rather to highlight the reality that we simply cannot make everything right for everyone in this life. It’s impossible. Some people are going to suffer despite our good will. 

And others suffer because of our good will. Watch and listen as Homan slams open border policies that have directly led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and the horrifically evil sex-trafficking of children. Do those who oppose him have no concern for the suffering their welcoming of all immigrants has led to?

So if we can’t accommodate all who want to live here without endangering the lives and livelihoods of those who already do, how do we properly channel our good will? This is a difficult task, but it would be made easier if these things were true of us:

1. We acknowledge God’s rightful place as our sovereign authority and seek his wisdom. If we believe and trust in him we have a much better apprehension of right and wrong, of justice and injustice. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” – Proverbs 9:10
2. We recognize the reality of evil and of man’s sinful nature. It is beyond foolish to go to great lengths to be good without a keen awareness that our goodness may be enabling badness.
3. We have the courage to lay claim to our own rights and responsibilities as citizens to prioritize our families, communities, and country. Just as a father would be negligent if he let his own children starve while feeding strangers’ kids, so too is a government that endangers the integrity, culture, stability, and well-being of its own in an attempt to care for all.

Most of us would love to see every person on the planet happy, well-provided for, and free. But we are unequivocally unable to make that happen. In our desire to act on our impulse to be virtuous, many support extending mercy to at least all who come to our border. That’s laudable but ultimately ludicrous.

Mercy that is not undergirded by cold, hard facts is sure to be misplaced.