A Biblical View of Racism – UNITE Linky

Before you read these words. Let’s be clear. This is not some Caucasian woman hidden in white suburbia her whole life.

This is a white woman whose very first friend was African American. I’ve had friends who were Laos, and Thai. My best friend, Mexican.

Some of my other friends were from India and American Indian.

I married a Peruvian, adopted an African American daughter, and have had various races throughout the years as foster children.

And yet, I get it.

I get the hiding, and labeling, the pointing fingers, and intimidation one race might feel against another…

Still, what I have learned is, no one can truly claim ownership over the thoughts and feelings of another, until they have walked in their shoes.

Even me, I never imagined being so appalled at the down-right racism I have seen when taking in African American children.

Threatening behavior pointed to me. But even, at times to my children, directly.

And we might think hate comes in a certain shades, cultures, or ethnicities…

But, discrimination owns no color, and hate is no respecter of persons.

Today, I was at a basketball tournament, just days after the deadly shooting of the police officers and two African American men…

And yet, there at the tournament, white and African American’s played side-by-side, hand slapping, high fives, competing civilized all for the sake winning…

And when we realize, the enemy, like in basketball, isn’t another race, but hate itself…

We can determine as Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.”

We can walk a little taller, smile a little broader, offer grace and mercy where others might let condemnation in, with hate, pride, or prejudices.

James 2:4 says, those who discriminate are as “judges with evil thoughts.”

Racism is a condition of the heart, but it starts with the poison of a lie, an evil thought directed towards outward appearances.

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)…

Still, God told Samuel, “Don’t look at appearances…”

Yet, we live in a culture that postures with false presentations and makes life all about outward appearances.

We have Facebook, and other social media that uses appearances for man’s evaluation…

But, what if we got low, and used insight. Stopped, listened, and took time to get to know other people?

How might our own discrimination disintegrate?

How might we be shocked that people aren’t always exactly as they seem on the outside, when we hear their story, learn more than their name?

Man isn’t perfect, because come one, let’s face it….we are flawed and sinful, short-sighted, and ignorant….

But, “God shows no partiality.” (Romans 2:11) And the Bible teaches, “If you are showing partiality, you are committing sin.” (James 2:9)

One of my favorite stories is how Jesus went through forbidden Samaria. He not only talked to, but converted a Samaritan women.

She became the first female evangelist. (And come one, in doing this, Jesus was breaking some serious social stereotypes in His day.)

And while even the disciples didn’t want to go through this region, or interact with this outcasts group of people…

Jesus refused to sit on the edge, weigh and evaluate their differences…

Instead, He got bold, walked right into the middle of Samaria, and engaged in dialogue with this foreigner.

And what would happen if we stopped judging people from the comfort of our living room couches based on t.v. broadcasters and media outlets?

What if we stepped in, reached out, and actually walked into other people’s homes, cultures, lives…

Got to know one another, before we were quick to determine their hearts?

What if we put away our biased and really loved one another, like Jesus did?

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34)

And let’s face it, there are two kinds of people…

Not black and white, but those who unite, and those who plant contempt, divisions, and poison in the hearts of other people.

Jude 1:19 teaches…

“It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.”

And I don’t care if you are black, white, or brown…you are my brother, my sister. We are different parts of the very same body meant to be used together, for His purposes….

Don’t we remember Jesus pleading, “I pray that they will be one”? (John 17:21)

And I wonder if still today, He is sitting on the right-hand of the Father, interceding that same prayer for us today, in the aftermath of all these shootings?

And yet, we pick and pull, and kick and scream, and point out fault and tell other races how they should be living…

Like tantruming children who don’t know who their Father is, we bicker, and fight, and shoot other people. Why do we let fear be the force dividing one another?

• I remember when we sang with the people on the mountains of Guatemala. Two different languages, but one in Spirit.
• Or the time, I held a baby asleep in my lap, and sang Hillsong with a girl I had just met in Dominican Republic.
• Or the day, I prayed with women, side-by-side in China. There weren’t thoughts of what we looked like, or cultures fighting to divide us….

There was just His Spirit. Just the sweetness of a God who let us see deep inside the hearts of other people…

There was oneness. Wholeness. Unity.  No one thought one culture was better or worse, richer or poor, smart or more or less educated….

Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and unity. (2 Cor. 2:17)

• And maybe we don’t need laws, and mandates, and changes in political systems…
• Maybe we just need to surrender to what He teaches, draw close in love to the truth of the One who made us…
• Maybe we just must not forget what Revelations teaches; every tongue, tribe, nation, and people will be invited into His feast…

And I wonder how life would change if we focused less on color, and differences, and more on the heart of God and who He created us to be…

Then, maybe like in basketball today, we could all play on the same team. Not competing and fighting and warring, like enemies. But knowing…

Judgement will destroy us. Racism and fanaticism, hidden thoughts of hate and pride, and religious elitism will implode a people God created to love.

Children know this. They meet at a park and are friends, the second they meet.

They are drawn together despite their social, economical, or cultural differences…

Still, doesn’t it say…If we want to enter the Kingdom, love will be necessary?

Hate has no place in heaven.

And it has no place in our own hearts, either…

We were created to love. 

“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.” ~ 1 John 2:9