Refugee

Hebrews 6:18 So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizidek.

Last February I had the honor of meeting Christian Nkulikiye in Togo, Africa. Christian serves with Vapor ministries, a group expending themselves for the lost, starving and neglected. As I got to know Christian over the ten days I was there, it became apparent that He was one of the strongest disciple makers I had bumped into on this planet. His journey through life had been a bumpy one that began with him almost dying as an infant. Later in his life, a genocidal war broke out in his home country of Rwanda. He was a Tustsi and the rival Hutus began a slaughter that ended up with a death toll of around 800,000. As the war raged, Christian's family fled Rwanda on foot. He recounts a time when they were surrounded by Hutus in a swamp and they were forced to be still and quiet for three days. During that time his grandfather died as a result of Pneumonia, but the danger outside kept the family standing paralyzed with fear until the murderous Hutus had given up their manhunt for blood. There are many details to the story, but their flight for refuge was long. They walked through seven countries and finally ended up in Kenya. Christian and his family set up life in one of the largest slums on the planet and he turned to soccer for relief. God sent Christian a wife to be named Seline who introduced him to Christ and later a White boy named Micah (founder of Vapor) who discipled him unto the Lord. God is using him mightily in Africa, and now in Haiti, as the refugee is now a missionary! When you talk and walk with Christian, his passion and desire for God bubble up and out of him naturally 24/7. His life's story seems as vivid as those found in the Hebrews 11 hall of faith. Christian knows what it means to flea for refuge from this world and he knows what it means to flea for Refuge into Christ's arms. I thank God for Him!

When I read through the words in Hebrews six above, I feel the weightiness of them as the author intimately details out a Christ follower's flight to refuge in God. When I examine the depth of the meaning and apply it intimately into my own life it is convicting in a righteous and helpful way.

Refugees, you see, don't get to take anything with them and when they get to their place of Refuge they don't have any rights to citizenship, unless the local authorities grant it to them. Refugees arrive in their new land meek, powerless and empty handed. Refugees flea to a new place as they know the place they are fleeing form equals destruction for them and the people and things they value. The flight of a refugee is fueled by a faith that senses the place they are headed is the only path that leads them away from destruction. I believe that is physically what Christian felt as as a physical refugee as he left Rwanda in 1994, and I know that is what drove Him as a spiritual refugee in 2004 when he surrendered it all to Christ.

Now take that and apply it to yourself and others you know around you. Does it seem like we are refugees in Christ? Does it seem like we are totally and gratefully abandoning the World? Do we eagerly seek to walk by Faith into a humble walk with Christ as a refugee, powerless and humble?

It honestly seems to me like we want our cake and eat it too! At the core of my soul, I believe there is a lie that says you can have both! It says you can be committed to God and the world. Kind of a hybrid faith that pulls some biblical precepts over into the current American culture and just proceeds along that path with just a higher moral compass. I know because I bought that lie for a long time in my life.

I believe that God is looking for refugees from the present world system that come to Him broken and desperate. I see all around me people that know that they should dive into God's grace, but just can't let go of the provision of the World!

Do you see yourself in the refuge of Christ? Are you seeking refuge as a refugee from the World or hoping to meet Him in it? Christ came and is now the anchor to God for His faithful followers. The hope that is spoke of is one of rest, identity and peace. We will not find it looking in this world, only in The Kingdom of Christ!