Jeremiah 7:5-11

We cannot earn our way to heaven, it is through the death, resurrection and the salvation given to us in Jesus, BUT we are living epistles, His examples of the right way to live. It is our duty as CHRISTians to judge without partiality,  not make a stranger feel distressed, anxious or uncomfortable nor to treat them unjustly, to take care of those who cannot care for themselves, and most importantly love God with all our heart, mind and spirit!

This Hebrew word for stranger could more precisely be translated “resident alien.” It refers to those foreigners who lived as permanent residents within Israel. Israel was to treat aliens within its own borders in such a way that they would want a relationship with Israel’s God.

^{Deuteronomy 10:16-20} Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. ¹⁸ He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 

^{Matthew 25:37-40} “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 

Jeremiah 7:5-11

⁵ “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, ⁷ then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. 

⁸ “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? ¹¹ Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.