God’s heart has always been for the foreigners, the aliens and the immigrants, but our human tendency is usually to fear those who are different.
Learning a little Greek can help compare and contrast the two approaches to outsiders:
xenophobia: fear of the stranger and xenophilia: hospitality for the stranger.
Xeno = other, outsider, different
Phobia = fear
Philio = love
While human nature fears the other, the Kingdom moves in the exact opposite direction, into hospitality and inclusion.
The power of the cross is that the love of xenophilia can overcome the fear of xenophobia. While human nature fears the other, the Kingdom moves in the exact opposite direction, into hospitality and inclusion.
Post adapted from Woodland Hills Church website, Author Emily Morrison
