Have you seen the meme currently making rounds on social media? It says some version of this: “Heaven has a wall and strict immigration policies. Hell has open borders. Let that sink in.”

It’s meant as a support for Trump’s build-a-wall campaign, presenting not just a false narrative of God’s love and grace, but one that is abhorrent, and anathema to the Christian faith. Translation – it’s a load of manure.

If this is your theology of the love of God, I pity you.

One might call this meme, “fake news.” (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) Want to know the truth? The real story? Here it is: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17).

God’s grace intends to include, rather than exclude. God’s heart has open borders, so to speak, and cannot be hijacked to support someone’s political misrepresentation of Christ’s attitude on how we, as Christian’s, are to treat the foreigner…the stranger…the alien, whom we are to welcome.

Let that sink in.