RACISM AND REPENTANCE

Confession Time Posted May 6, 2021

As a straight white dude from the Midwest, I cannot say I am without my biases and prejudices.

They are tied directly to my geography, demography, community, and my information sources. I struggle greatly to consider myself equal with anyone with a different upbringing. Or their culture, their race, their perspective, their differences, or even their privilege. That is not to say I don’t strive to be better; I actively try to coordinate mission trips and day-service projects in many Black communities, but nothing I do will ever make me any less of a fallen human being.


That's why I trust Jesus with my life. Being born again in Christ means receiving a new nature, and that we're no longer slaves to our old one and its ways. That's not to say that my old nature won't haunt me or occasionally grab a hold of me. There's plenty of people out there who want to an honest conversation about racism, and need help overcoming their old selves. Healing and strength may come from communities, but in a society increasingly obsessed with "cancel culture", one slip-up is all it can take to get scorched off the face of the earth. If anyone is using the Bible as their moral guidepost, or at the very least is seeking to drive out hate with anything other than hate... I would like to point out Jesus' response in Luke 9:52-56, when a few disciples suggest He cast fire to a Samaritan village for not welcoming Him. He rebukes them, saying:

"Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

If Jesus didn't take this option, neither should we. The reality is that we are all fallen creatures and we all come short of the glory of God. Without his Word to calibrate our moral compass, our feelings become our idol and we are condemned to be governed by our own biases and prejudices. But people can be loved. And people can be forgiven. In Christ is a promise that the future holds no condemnation for us. And in Christ, we are all on an equal playing field. One of my favorite verses that really helps me see people as fellow image bearers of our same Creator comes from Galatians 3:26-29:

“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

So what if, instead, we re-channeled our preconceived notions and cancel impulses into learning more about God and what He has done for us?

Wouldn’t that give us a greater capacity to love other people?

Wouldn’t that bring some much-needed healing in our society, and bring us closer to having Christ's Kingdom here on Earth?

And wouldn’t that bring us the satisfaction we are all looking for?

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