When I joined the Foreign Service, I expected to be sent “overseas” but my first assignment was Mexico City. That is just 900 miles from my home. I figured the food, culture, and language would be familiar, since we had lived in San Antonio, Texas for the past ten years. Besides that, some Spanish is mixed in my wife’s Filipino language. With our car loaded with our belongings and detailed directions, we headed to the border.
The first sign of a problem was the look the Border Patrol gave us when I said we were driving to Mexico City and didn’t know Spanish. I should have turned back, but I was expected to arrive at the U.S. Embassy the next day. Fortunately our directions kept us from getting lost, but they took us through some bad parts of Laredo before leading us to the main road. We soon approached a check point that I tried to avoid, but a military man with a gun redirected us. I was a diplomat and exempt from taxes, but they didn’t know enough English to understand. They finally convinced me to push a button that lit a green light and they let us go. A red light would have meant a complete search and more communication trouble. The rest of the drive was beautiful and peaceful until we got to Mexico City, where traffic was crazy and the drivers were insane! We made it to the Embassy safely, where my Supervisor was shocked that we had driven all that way without knowing the language.
soon found out that few people outside the Embassy know, or will try to speak English. I was too busy learning my new job and Susan was too shy to take a language course. That created a communication barrier between us and our Mexican hosts during our two year stay. We had some help from our coworkers, but were reduced to pointing and gesturing when we tried to do basic things like buying groceries. Everything in the stores was in Spanish and it took a while to find what we needed. Even at the International Church we attended, it was hard to get close to some of the members, who spoke little English. They didn’t understand why we didn’t learn their language, and that created a different kind of barrier.
Fortunately an American Missionary couple took us under their wing and helped us get settled and develop a love for the people. Though the poor couldn’t understand our words, we soon found out they knew the language of love. My wife grew up poor and understands hunger, not having basic necessities, and the desire to feel loved. Her compassion overcame the barriers, time and again when we went with the missionaries to minister to the homeless. Susan overcame her own fears to buy shoes for a drug addicted teenager, who had hers stolen while she was passed out. Susan bought baskets she didn’t want from an old lady who “looked like she hadn’t sold much.” She was generous to workers who weren’t used to that and giving to people used to stealing. She even went on a trip with the missionaries to help flood victims.
We have a similar barrier in the U.S. between Christians and the world. They don’t understand us or why we want to be Christians and they don’t even speak our language. All they hear from religion is “you can’t do this and that” and “you are on your way to Hell.” We have to overcome that barrier, created by the one who comes to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10). We need to reach out in love and kindness to those who don’t deserve it, like JESUS did to us. If they do come to our Church, they will run into religious barriers of fear and judgment, if we don’t remove those ourselves.
They won’t understand our “jargon” if they weren’t raised in the Church, but they will understand love. Even that has been twisted and misused so much that you may have to show them what real “love” means. Focus more on giving love than expecting love from them for a while. Explain how your love is made possible because “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV). When they see your love in action, they will begin to believe your words and in the GOD you love so much.
Don’t expect them to act like Christians, because they may not be there yet. If they were fed a steady anti-CHRIST diet, it could take time and a lot of spiritual battles to change their hearts and minds. They have wounds that need to heal and scars that remind them of their failures. Yes, they need to grow spiritually, but that will happen in time if we don’t push them away.
They need to be spiritually fed and strengthened to fight off Satan’s attacks. He won’t give them up without a fight, but he is just another barrier to overcome with your love, prayer and faith. Don’t give these “babes in CHRIST” everything at once, but you should give them a good portion, so they can “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalms 34:8). The HOLY SPIRIT will do His part to draw them, but they need to leave each service liking what they received and looking forward to what comes next.
Overcoming these kinds of barriers is a spiritual battle “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12 KJV). Make sure you’re rooted and grounded in CHRIST and filled with the HOLY SPIRIT and power, because you are going to need it! Don’t worry, “for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chron 20:15 KJV) .
Wayne Lance (2019)