Homeless and Hopeless

How many people long for a place to call home? How many people globally do have a place they call home? According to a new United Nations study, “One person [is] forced to flee their home every three seconds by war and violence” (The Guardian, June 19, 2017). This translates into over 65 million displaced persons in 2016! The study notes that the majority of these displaced people are refugees and half of them are children!

If you have a peaceful place to call home, do you realize how blessed you are?  Are you able to feel concern and compassion for the tens of millions who are on the move, living in unsafe and unsanitary conditions? Stable homes and families are two criteria that are used to identify the ever-elusive human state of peace. Peace is something that everyone seeks and few are able to truly attain. Government agencies and politicians strive for peace, but often little is achieved. The prophet Jeremiah warned that the time would come when the leaders of the world would claim “‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11, 15). However, Jesus Christ is going to return to this earth and usher in a true time of peace in the Kingdom of God (Isaiah 9:6-7). The God of the Bible states about this exciting future, “My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings [homes], and in quiet resting places” (Isaiah 32:18). For more on this topic, read or listen to “International Day of Peace.”