As is the reality with most of you reading this right now, I have spent the last month diving in to the realities of racism being alive and booming in the world right now. I have been examining my life and thoughts, and asking the Lord to reveal parts of my heart that are not pure in my love for people.
It's been a roller coaster.
I've had to give myself a system where I am sharing and loud about it all for a couple of days, and then I take a day to sit back and watch, and listen to the Lord and to the people in my life. It never fails that on those listening days the Lord gets VERY loud about His heart on this matter and what He's asking of His church in this season. Verses in the Bible will smack me in the face with truth, He'll use people to confirm things He has already spoken to me, and He'll speak through shows I'm watching...
Which leads me to today's blog.
I started watching Family Matters a couple of weeks ago. Mostly because I am feeling real nostalgic in this 4th month of quarantining, but also because it felt pertinent to this time in history... and I wasn't wrong.
The episode I watched last night (season 5, episode 15) gripped my heart. Is it cheesy 90's acting? Yes. But is it crazy that this SAME TOPIC is still a thriving issue 26 years later? Most definitely yes. I have attached a clip from this episode below, would you consider watching it real quick?
Did it grip you like it gripped me? Did it make you sad? Did it infuriate you?
After watching that episode I looked up what year it aired... 1994. It literally could have been last week.
The question I keep seeing posted by those who are having a very hard time grasping that this happens, that this STILL happens, is "why can't we just let history be history and leave it be?" And my answer is the same every time... it's not history until we've moved on from it. You can't look back at history and learn from it if the same mistakes are continually happening to this day.
So how do we solve it? How do we move out of this race driven stereotyping that is so damaging?
Well, what I keep hearing the Lord say is to love Him and love them... them being every human on the planet. To some, that may seem like a mysterious, non-tangible answer. But to me it's the only answer.
We can change laws, we can challenge thinking, we can increase training for civil servants, we can (and should) do all the physical things... but the root of the evil is in our hearts. This evil called racism is sin. And my Bible says "love covers a multitude of sin". So to me, if I want to rid this world of racism I have got to love so it cancels out that hatred and sin.
And I feel challenged everyday that the church has got to get this. We have got to see the big picture. And we have got to stop processing the happenings in the world and in our country through the lens of politics. Because politics are MANMADE... meaning they are fallible, and should never be the leading factor in decision making for a Christian. We should be asking Holy Spirit to open our hearts, unveil our eyes, and give us ears to hear what He is saying.,, and then RESPOND ACCORDINGLY.
So if you're a follower of Jesus, I challenge you to pray this prayer this week...
Lord, give me humility to hear and see what You are saying and doing right now. Help me to be gracious and kind in the way I respond to people. And teach me to love above all things. . Amen
And once you've prayed that expect that He's going to speak, and be willing to be obedient even if it doesn't match what you're used to. He's doing something in the earth, and I can't wait to see how beautiful He will make the results of all this ugliness.
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