1 John 3: 1 NKJV
Like most Americans, I've watched the devastation around our nation as a result of the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Each day, it seems, brings new depths to which those who march in our streets will sink to. We've seen everything from neighborhoods being burned to the occupation of city blocks. Violence and chaos seem to be the rule of the day. However, what I seldom hear anyone speaking to is what I believe is at the heart of this issue. How is it that someone would carry such a low opinion of themselves? Now, I've been around plenty of people who have spoken to some pretty hateful things in regards to race and religion. While I feel that we are indeed living in ultra sensitive times, I also believe that our view of others as anything less than a child of the living God is wrong. See, I have that confidence. In my heart I know that I was lovingly created by my heavenly Father {Genesis 2:7}. Now, while this gives me assurance as to my true identity, it is also a reminder to me of how I am to see those around me {2 Corinthians 5:16}. Like it or not, we all have those filters by which we view the world around us. As we've seen far too often, there are definitely those among us who see people of different races and religion as somehow inferior or not as blessed as ourselves. Tell me where that's written in scripture. What is written is that in the eyes of the Lord, race is but a product of His own creation. In fact, it is not our race which defines us at all, but who we are in Christ Jesus {Galatians 3:28}. It is here where we get lost in our beliefs of who it is we truly are inside. God does not love me any more because I am a white man, nor does he bestow hatred upon others because they are different from ourselves. One of the most beautiful things of the late Dr. Martin Luther King was that he always tried to get people to see themselves as God saw them. Not as black or white, but as brethren in Christ. Whatever thoughts you might have on our nations racial struggles, you cannot deny the fact that it is God who has created each and every one of us in His image {Genesis 1:27}. I believe that you cannot know the truth about Christ Jesus and believe that race is a issue in His eyes. The truth about Jesus centers around the belief that it is Jesus who lives through us. The apostle Paul speaks to this in Galatians when he claimed this it is Jesus who resides in him {Galatians 2:20}.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3: 28 NKJV
I have had the opportunity over the past few years to work with a man who carries with him the mistrust of many racial injustices. I get it. I believe that it is difficult for him to see the positive side of the Father while he sees all that is going on around him. This is his filter. In his world, he lives in a country where white people have been against him for as long as he can remember. Of course, this becomes a ready made excuse anytime something goes wrong in his life. Is this how Jesus responded to those who sneered at Him? In His lifetime, Jesus dealt with plenty of the hatred of the rulers of His day. In the end, it is these people who put Him to death. Jesus did not carry this with Him because it's not who He was. Jesus knew very well His own identity in the Father. Were there times where the hurtful words and accusations got to Him? I'm sure of it, yet Jesus never allowed the way they treated Him to change His filter. Even at the cross, He asked for mercy for those who mocked Him {Luke 23:34}. One of the challenges we face as followers of Jesus is in how we see others in the midst of all that happens around us. Our own filters must never be clouded with the worries, cares and injustices of the world. There will be those around us who speak of hate, but that does not define us. If I was created in the image of God, then I must believe that He did not stop there. I don't own the image of God, I share in it with the rest of His creation. Likewise, I don't own the reality of Christ Jesus in me, I share it with all who know the truth of Jesus.
If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother who he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
1 John 4: 20 NKJV
~Scott~
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