Is any negative interaction between black and white a distinctiveness of intolerance? If so, who is the victim? How can we as Christians end a one-sided opinion of race? What can you do to change the narrative? Throughout history, when people have engaged with each other, there have been negative encounters. I remember as a kid years ago, it was obvious who was a racist. Once you’ve seen it or heard it you never forgot it. Sadly, one group shows favoritism over another by being fitted for and spend money on a white gown and don a pointy hat that greets you like a disembodied menace. You celebrated racism by getting some burlap, wrapping it around a cross, setting it ablaze and dancing around it carrying torches.
Some showed their narrowness, by memorizing poems for whenever a black student showed up for admission to their high school or college. For example, "Two, four, six, eight, we don't want to integrate!" In earlier times, you didn't have to be sophisticated, but it took a bit of work, to be a racist. Today, all that has changed. To be a racist today takes little effort, because racism has become an opinion.
"So how must we heal this?" First, we must understand and identify the problem, There is only one race, and that is the human race. God does not show partiality or favoritism Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9, and neither should we. Second, we mustunderstand “The Why of our Purpose” and third, “Do we want to be healed”?
"How should we live our lives in light of our identity in Christ?"
According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” I am a Christian first.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul has written that Christ’s death for sin has changed the way he regards people. Instead of looking at each person as a mere human being, he must view those who are in Christ as something entirely different. those who are “in Christ” are those who have faith in Him, credited with Christ’s righteous life, and their sin forgiven by Christ’s death in their place. Such people are new creatures. Those “in Christ” have become something they were not before. Their identity has changed from being the fallen version of themselves, to being associated with the righteousness of Christ.
Isaiah 53:5, which is then quoted in 1 Peter 2:24, is a key verse on healing, but it is often misunderstood and misapplied. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” The verse (1 Peter 2:24), is talking about sin and righteousness, not sickness and disease. Therefore, being “healed” in both these verses is speaking of being forgiven and saved, not physically healed.
As I study the above scripture, I can't help but ask the following questions. If Jesus can cure diseases can he cure racism? You see racism is Sin? You see the way Jesus cures is a physical cure, but is that any different from trying to claim racism is a disease in the physical sense of the word? But it doesn't mean we as Christians don't have anything to say when given an opportunity to talk about racism as we listen with the goal of understanding each other’s perspectives.
What can you do as a Christian differently to make it better?
A friend recently asked me for guidance as to what the Bible says about racism, He seemed surprised when I suggested that perhaps he was asking the wrong question. Plus, the weight of this issue requires full engagement not a single “drive-by” conversation and are you ready to be exposed? When we think about things like economics and government, we don’t ask the Bible to tell us how to manage things directly. Instead, we ask and pray how the Bible may inform our vision of a just society. Most of the Bible’s instructions concerning race address things like a man’s obligations to love your neighbor as yourself. We are not loving our neighbor at all when we boldly without reservation, when we say sin is sin, racism is sin and Jesus Christ forgives all your sin. We don't indoctrinate it we preach with our Christ voice of Forgiveness and be known as a person of prayer who has adoration for all!
What we are seeing now is a function of our bondage to sin. What that means is bondage to ourselves, “we try to see who is the best in applying the Law”. What makes me happy, egocentric myself and I bondage to sin. I’m Mickie, so to speak as the commercial suggested, " I want it my way", this is our sin. That to me is certainly, part of what we are seeing played out.
Jesus calls the Israelite the lost sheep of the house of Israel and that is part of that bondage to sin, was then and is now our compulsion to think our identity is in the Law. To think our identity is anything other than except Jesus Christ. Are you hungry for the old life to be gone and a new life to begin!” 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:24 Have you looked outward to say to your neighbors, "I love you" and mean it? Because, in Christ we are loved, forgiven, and secure.
Our new identity in Christ means we have the same relationship with God that Christ has—we are His children. God has adopted us as sons.In broad strokes, Scripture places obligations on Christians to push back against racism. The Bible promotes impartiality James 2:1, the equality of all people Genesis 1:27 and to spur Christians to action, James 4:17. Most of all, we respond to each other in love—not the feeling, but a selfless, conscious act of sacrifice, which is reflective of the agape love of the God who loved us and gave Himself for us Galatians 2:20.
All of this is the ideal of the “Why”—the character of a mature follower of Christ. Our identity in Christ is the grace we’re given in order to grow into the spiritual maturity that truly reflects our new identity Philippians 1:6. Our lives in light of our identity in Christ are filled with a heavenly Father, a large, loving family, and the understanding that we are citizens of another kingdom and not of this earth. It is this experiencing of God’s love that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. Why does God love us? It is because of who He is: "God is love. “Are you ready to be what God wants you to be”? “A role model, To Love”!
God Bless You And This Ministry!
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