NOTE: The 2015 ERLC Leadership Summit will address “The Gospel and Racial Reconciliation” to equip Christians to apply the gospel on these issues with convictional kindness in their communities, their families and their churches. This event will be held in Nashville on March 26-27, 2015. To learn more go here.
We are all from the same root racially. God’s agenda for us is that we live in unity with one another, both in the kingdom and in the culture at large.
But when God’s truth is given to sinful men, they distort it. That is true in the area of race relations, which has led to the suppression of some races by other races who believe themselves superior.
Racism is the discrimination of people based on skin color or ethnic origin. It involves the unrighteous use of power against people toward whom we harbor prejudice, which is the emotional foundation of discrimination. Racism is equally unrighteous whether practiced by whites toward blacks, blacks toward Hispanics, Hispanics toward Asians, or any other combination thereof. It is an affront to the character of God, and His answer to racism is never racism in reverse.
Like a cancer, the problem of racism has metastasized and invaded the very structures of American life, making the source almost impossible to trace and deal with.
Every attempt to address this evil leads to the frustration of seeing it pop up somewhere else. Countless workshops, seminars, and symposia have not led to a cure for this cultural cancer.
Why has this evil been so difficult to eradicate? Because racism is not first and foremost a skin problem. It is a sin problem. See, when you believe that racism is a skin problem, you can take three hundred years of slavery, court decisions, marches, and the federal government involvement and still not get it fixed right.
But once you admit that racism is a sin problem, you are obligated as a believer to deal with it right away. As long as the issue of race is social and not spiritual, it will never be dealt with in any ultimate sense.
Verse: “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.” 1 John 2:9
Prayer: Father, create in me a heart of love for my brothers and sisters in Christ, and help me to show that love to them in ways that reflect Your glory and bring You pleasure.
This was originally posted here.
