Racist America?

I use to think race was not really an issue. 

I would watch things on the news and my gut reaction was that people were creating an issue that was not there.  I found beauty in the differences we all have.  Our God is a god of splendor and creativity and that is expressed in the way he created us and all of our differences be it skin color or hair color, personality or even the ways we worship. 

But I have learned a few things over the past few months in light of several racially charged issues that have come to pass.

First, racism still exists in America.  You might not be a racist and I might not be a racist, but some people are.  

Second, it only takes a few people with racism in their hearts to do a lot of damage.  This damage can be done with their words, their body language, and sometimes even with weapons intended for physical harm.

The best way I can try to understand it is imagining that there is an evil person in my city that is targeting little girls the same age as my daughter.  Even if I am not directly impacted by that, I will be fearful for my daughter and I will live on edge until the person is caught.  

And what if they catch one person just to have another step up and carry on the evil?  Eventually I will spend my life always looking over my shoulder and watching for someone to come and try to harm my daughter. I think that must be a small taste of what it is like to live in America and have dark skin.

The last thing I have learned is though I might be able to come up with a situation that I can draw a comparison to, I will never truly understand the strain that racism puts on the shoulders of my brothers and sisters with darker skin than mine.  I just never will.

   

                           

With this I think there are some things that I can do to help. When I hear people tell racial jokes or make racial comments, stop them.  It is not okay even if they think they are just being funny. 

I can stop trying to minimize the issue.  The best way I can do this is to listen.  I might not completely understand how the issue effects each person, but I can listen and really hear what my brothers and sisters are saying.  I can have empathy for the strain that this must put on their day to day lives and I can lift them up in prayer.

I can raise my children in a way that I don't try to hide our differences or make us all out to be the same, but in a way where they see the beauty in it! And I can teach them that they are no better and no less than any other person.  We are all sinners saved only by grace and any good we do is a direct result of the Father.

Lately I tend to swing from anger regarding this issue to sadness. Anger at myself, my government, my media, for spending so much time trying to gloss over a nasty, dirty part of who we are. And sadness over the fact that so many people bear a pain in their hearts regarding this issue that I can't even begin to understand. 

We need to move into a time of clarity and acknowledgement.  

We need to move away from denial and step into revival! 

Stop denying we have differences...we do and they are beautiful! Appreciate them!

Stop denying that those differences cause some people to hate....they do and those people cause harm!

But most of all stop thinking that there is nothing we can do....we can combat the hate...we can combat the evil...

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

Remember we are all valuable to God. There is not one person that did not cross the mind of the Creator as he/she came into being. 

The differences in nature are to enrich our lives!  

The differences in people are to enrich our lives and relationships!

There is not one group of people that is put over another. In the end we will all stand before the Lord and worship Him.

"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands." Revelation 7:9

Stand together as the Church, the bride of Christ and let the world know who sent us and how much they are loved and pursued by Him. 

"The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.  I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me." John 17:22-23

This is how we kill hate.