Anti-racist

 Here is what I am thinking about today. It is a thought I got from Andy Stanley. As much as I want to believe that our nation is better, we have people going back to our past and reliving the sins of our past. But is it just Black culture that is doing this or does even I go back to my past and dig up skeletons that should have been buried and left in the past.  All of us have been hurt by someone some time or another. It could be the imperfect parent that raised us. It could be a spouse that hurt us. Have we forgiven and moved on or do we drag it out of the closet every now and then?  If we keep dragging a past sin out of the closet that we have already asked God to forgive us for, have we forgiven ourselves?  Am I a racist?  That is really what I am thinking about today. I remember coming from a meeting on the job that I attended. A Black man facilitated that meeting. There was something I said that I felt could have been taken wrong. I don't remember what it was that I actually said. I was talking to a co-lead when I went back to my desk and mentioned that I felt something I said could have been taken wrong by that Black man. My co-lead then said something that stuck with me, here you are a White man married to a Black woman and you couldn't be racist. I thought to myself, racism is a condition of the heart. The person I married does not affect my racism or lack of it. In fact, I have learned that Black people are every bit as racist as White people.  It is a condition of our hearts.  Do you know that spell check corrects me in the previous sentence.  I capitalized the B in Black and the W in White. It is telling me to correct White to white but does not tell me to correct Black to black.  I think I am being the same to both cultures when I write with a capital letter. Scripture tells us to not show partiality. Perhaps this racism is embedded in our culture.  Anyway, there I go again.  Am I just non-racist or am I anti-racist? Or am I just racist period? I do believe racism is a condition of the heart. A sin. Andy was suggesting that an anti person will speak up and be against racism when they see it. A non-racist will just ignore it and walk away. Do I think racism is still a problem in our country? Yes, I do. I believe people here in the south think I am racist because I am very vocal about what I see. Many in the Black culture and even many Whites think that Blacks cannot be racist because they are a minority and it is only Whites that have embedded racism in them. I think people in both cultures have a heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked. Once again I think it is a condition of the heart. Do I speak out against injustice when I see it or do I say nothing? If we really want to cure racism or any other sin we might need to look to Jesus. His new commandment he gave in his last days on earth. Love one another as I have loved you? Jesus showed his love by dying on a cross for all who have sinned and that includes everyone, including Whites and Blacks. The new commandment that Jesus gave was to love others as much as Jesus loved us. He showed us the way. Love in action. Love that died on a cross for all sin. So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. John 13:34. There are a dozen and more scriptures that repeat this commandment from Jesus himself. I believe that is the real cure for racism in our land today. Paul the apostle as a keeper of the law as a Pharisee was a racist. Until his conversion on the road to Damascus. He kept the ten commandments religiously, but he was against those that did not believe like he believed. He had a conversion, he became a Christ-follower and as a Christ-follower in its truest form, he loved others as Christ loved him. If we live we are an image-bearer of God. We are brothers.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. John 13:35  I think I need to be anti-racist and love others just as Christ loved me. It is simple but I believe this is the answer for racism. Love, Love each other. Love as Christ first loved us. For God does not show favoritism. Romans 2:11.  God loves us all. God does not love one culture above another. When we truly love as Christ loved us, I think we could even worship God together as one. God bless, LVZ.