Coming from all nations...

How many of these flags can you name?
Hint: they're all  European.
Click to enlarge the photo.

This morning I was reading in the book of 1st Kings chapter 10 - the story of how the Queen of Sheba came to visit the kingdom of Israel (vs 1 - 9) because King Solomon's fame had spread far and wide. In fact, verse 24 tells us that people from all the nations of the world were coming to see and hear for themselves the wisdom that God had put in Solomon's heart and the blessing that this was bringing to the whole nation.

While our western nations are no longer so clearly God-honouring nowadays, it's nonetheless true that people are coming to us from all around the globe. Refugees are coming because they seek justice and safety; international students are coming to seek knowledge and education; businesspeople are coming to seek wealth and opportunity. In many of our nations, especially in the major cities, we have a unique opportunity in the 21st century to share God's wisdom and truth with people from all over the world.

When Jesus was on earth, He told His disciples to "go into all the world" with the gospel and spread the good news to the ends of the earth. In those early days, you needed to travel to another nation or region to be a missionary; in our modern world, the nations are coming to us and you can probably find people of different nationalities and languages making their home just a few miles from where you live.

What are we doing to welcome the nations and peoples that are coming right to our doorstep? If you live in a university town, you have an amazing opportunity to reach out to foreign students, welcoming them to your country and sharing the love of God with them. Some of them are coming especially for the purpose of learning English (or the language of your nation) and would be thrilled to have you reach out to them and chat with them over a cup of coffee. Others are coming seeking work, and we find them in shops and airports around our nation. Still others are fleeing injustice and coming because they seek to start a new life. A friend of mine in Birmingham told me that their church now has bilingual Sunday morning services - in English and Farsi - because there are so many asylum seekers in their area, and they're beginning to see some of these people coming to the Lord.

People can't experience God for themselves until they have first heard the report of His fame. Often a friendly conversation with a local Christian can be the first step in that process. And later, like the Queen of Sheba in the story I read today, they'll be able to say, "The report I heard is absolutely true…. but I didn't fully believe it until I experienced it for myself."

God is sending us to the nations…… and He's also sending the nations to us. How can we maximise this incredible opportunity that He is giving us?