Confessions of a Christian Racist

Confessions of a Christian Racist

rac·ist [rey-sist]

Noun:

1.    A person that believes that his race is superior to another’s

Beginnings  –

Sitting around the confession circle, I realize that it is my turn.  “My name is Glenn and I am a Christian Racist.”  I am not sure when it started.  As any addict will tell you, it begins one episode at a time, and soon you are in deeper than you realized. 

I was born in 1952 into a white working class family in Annapolis, Maryland.  We lived in a mostly segregated neighborhood with a couple of exceptions over the years.  The neighbors were kind, loving, hardworking folks that came from various ethnic backgrounds, but all “white”.   My father grew up in the same neighborhood, the next street over from ours.  The diversity of the neighborhood was the same as when he was a child growing up there in the 1920’s.  I never remember my parents ever being prejudiced to any other ethnicities in speech or action. 

            My dad worked as a salesman and my mother was a stay at home mom, like most of my other friends.  We led a simple childhood there in “Cedar Park”, playing sand lot ball, cowboys and indians, cars in the dirt under the shade tree, it was innocence at its protected best.  In retrospect, it seems to be somewhat of a fairy tale existence compared to today’s children’s experiences.  We had the routine squabbles that sent us home to mom but she always reasoned with me to make up and move on. 

            Upon entering elementary school I had my first encounter with “colored” kids.  One particular girl, Sheila Johnson, was my classmate for my whole elementary school experience.  Looking back, I never recall any animosity or feeling of dislike for her or any of the other “colored kids”.  We played together on the school yard, worked together on assignments and never once do I remember having any negative feelings about them.  I attribute this to my parents and the way we were raised, having respect for everyone.  I know now that the school system was in the process of being de-segregated at that time but I don’t think kids in my school thought much about it.

            My fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Holland.  She was colored and had moved into our neighborhood, just a few blocks from our house.  Again, there were no issues with the Holland’s living in our “white” neighborhood.  It all seemed normal to me.  Mrs. Holland was very strict and did not take any foolishness from us.  My second grade teacher, Mrs. Brewer was just as strict so I made out all right.  I don’t recall having any colored boys as friends though there were some in my school, just none in my neighborhood.

            As I passed from elementary school to junior high the same mindset continued, and though the diversity increased, my response to it was the same.  I guess it just wasn’t a big deal and we just accepted one another without thinking about it.  I have to admit that I am not sure what the other kid’s experiences were.  Somewhere along the path the colored kids became African American, then black.  I was never sure what the proper term should be and tended to stick with African American since it sounded less abrasive.   

            My high school days were centered on fast cars and cruising the path from McDonald’s on one end of town and Burger Chef on the other.  Even the cruising culture was of a different ethnicity.  I never thought about it before, but the black kids weren’t around my world much in those days.  That was not by design on my part.  I guess we just had different interests and experiences.  I wasn’t involved in activities at school, and was never interested in sports and definitely not in academics.  Just cars and hanging out at the gas station owned by the father of my best friend Freddie.

            In 1968 there were intense racial divides in America and our town was no exception.  Somehow I was shielded from the tensions and don’t ever recall witnessing any altercations.  There was an older black guy that worked as a mechanic at the gas station, who was from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the town of Cambridge.  I remember Everett talking about the riots that were happening there.  Many years later I learned that our town was a tinder box for riots and they were averted by a black man and his white friend who the Lord enabled to reason with folks and avert the kind of conflicts that occurred in many parts of our land. 

I remember at that time seeing blacks on television being abused while marching peacefully for equal rights, and having dogs turned loose on them and fire hoses unleashing torrents of water, knocking them down.  It was that sight that defined what a “racist” was to me, someone who hated a black person so much, that they would harm them in that way.   I was appalled, but that was happening somewhere else, not in my experience.

Upon graduating from High School, I secured a mailroom job with a Naval Research laboratory in our town.  My experience there was similar to my life up to that point.  There was a professional atmosphere and the racial differences did not stand out to me.  Again, I am sure that they existed, because as a nation we had a long way to go to achieve Dr. King’s dream of a man being judged by his character versus the color of his skin.  I was privileged to be accepted into an upward mobility program that allowed me to move into a technical position that enabled me to learn while “on the job”.  There was a black girl by the name of Marsha that was selected along with me for two engineering technician positions in the same group.  We became good friends and grew in our respect for one another.

Some years later our group had the privilege of hiring Ricardo, a black high school student, as an engineering aid.  He came with us full time upon graduation and began his career.  As colleagues, we became very close as I was able to mentor him.  Our work took us to many parts of the US and foreign ports as well.   While at sea we lived in close quarters and worked around the clock.  We would sleep in shifts and Ricardo and I would routinely share the same “rack” for sleeping.  He would get up and come on shift and I would crawl in for my rest time.  I never once thought anything about the fact that he was black.  Again, my perspective on racism was defined by those images from the past that I had seen on the nightly news. 

I was not naive to the plight of blacks in America, but it didn’t come from me, and my surroundings didn’t reinforce the realities that my fellow black citizens were experiencing in their part of our society.  Ricardo did inform me that there were certain places that he knew were off limits to him because of his color and we would steer clear of those establishments.  He had a second sense about where not to go and I deferred to his judgment.

It was during this time that I committed my life to Jesus Christ.   Becoming a Christian did not have a great impact on my racial views since the teachings of Christ regarding the issue were in harmony with my own.  In Christ there is no Jew or Greek, rich or poor, but all ground is level at the foot of the Cross.  We may have differing worship styles and preferences that our African American brothers, but we serve a God who reaches the nations for His praise and glory.

 For some reason though, the matter of interracial dating and marriage was an exception.  I found myself bristling at the sight of a white person with a black person and it had never before occurred to me that it was wrong.  That belief would be challenged with time and I would grow to understand that it was wrong and put the issue behind me. The odd thing is that seeing other ethnicities inter relating did not conjure up the same emotion.

Anton and Jasmine –

            Fast forward to around 2004 and we are living in a different day and time.  The racial injustices I witnessed on the evening news in my youth had, for the most part, settled down and much progress had been made in our country.  I will grant that these issues are always viewed from different perspectives but my racial bias was pretty much controlled and informed by my understanding of the Bible and how Jesus prods us to look at life from a heavenly, Godward perspective and those teachings are clear.

            Our church was conducting a search for a youth pastor and we were expecting a candidate couple to come for a covert visit.  They were coming to check out the congregation before being formally introduced.  This visit would allow them to assess the church family and get a feel for how they interacted with one another.  When I found out that Anton and Jasmine were coming, I immediately sensed that they were a bi-racial couple.  I was sure that Anton was white and Jasmine was black.  I was looking forward to seeing how the families of the church would embrace them, as they would be introducing the bi-racial issue to a white congregation and their children.  Having struggled with the issue in the past, I knew it might be a stumbling block for some who had not matured in this area.

            Anton and Jasmine enjoyed a cordial welcome and returned for a meeting with the parents and members of the youth program.  I forgot to mention that while my intuition was right regarding their being bi-racial, I was wrong in that Jasmine was white and Anton was black.  Our South Carolina pastor calls that “Face Taking” after the teaching in the book of James regarding our treatment of people based on our blind assessment of them.

            Anton and Jasmine were a big hit with the youth and their parents, and a spirit of great anticipation for their potential ministry at our church permeated the meeting.  On our way out of the church parking lot I remarked to my wife that I hoped that the rest of the congregation would embrace them in the same manner.  The comment brought a startled response from our teenage daughter in the back seat.  “What are you talking about?”  I had made reference to their being bi-racial and that some might have a problem.  Her response was “do people really think that way?”  I was pleased to hear that she was appalled at the idea that something was wrong with a bi-racial relationship.  I was ecstatic to think that the chain of discrimination was being broken and progress in the next generation would be on a higher plane as a result.  Praise God!

My friend Corey  –

            In 2004 our next to the youngest daughter Maribeth set off to attend college at Charleston Southern University, a Christian college located near Charleston, South Carolina.  I was serving on the board of a missionary care ministry located in Columbia, South Carolina, and while there for a meeting, took the opportunity to go down to visit Maribeth at school.  She invited a couple of friends to join us for dinner and informed me that her friend Corey would join us as well.  When everyone arrived at the restaurant Maribeth introduced me to Corey.  My “Face Take” on him was that he was much older than Maribeth, probably in his early thirties.  I wondered what their relationship was, but the setting was not conducive to probing.  Did I mention that he is black? 

            We had a nice dinner and Corey shared with me his experiences from a recent trip to Israel.  It turned out that Corey was a Residence Life Coordinator at the University and had helped Maribeth with some car problems and that is how their friendship came to be.  Over the ensuing years I had other opportunities to see Corey during visits to the campus. 

           

We’re moving to South Carolina with Maribeth  –

            When our youngest daughter Rachel was nearing graduation from High School, she informed us that she did not have any desire to attend college and was planning to move to South Carolina to live with her sister Maribeth.  Maribeth was living in an apartment with five other girls and would be entering her senior year that fall.  Two of the girls were graduating soon and that would leave a slot for Rachel to move into.  She would get a job and make a new life for herself in Charleston.  Her plan was to move at the end of the summer.

            Our oldest daughter Rebecca was living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, working for a company that manufactured engineered structural wall panels and roof trusses for homes and apartment buildings.  As the date came for Rachel to relocate to Charleston, Rebecca made the decision to leave her job and move to Charleston as well.  Both girls were drawn by the quality of Christian friends that Maribeth had established during her time at Charleston Southern University and the opportunity to establish new lives for themselves in Charleston.

Rebecca and Corey are friends -

            In late August, we packed up Rachel and Rebecca’s cars with all of their earthly possessions and they headed for South Carolina.  It was a bittersweet sendoff but we knew that they would have great opportunities to meet Christian friends and grow in their walk with God.  Maribeth’s friends had been praying for both girls and looked forward to sharing life with them.

            One of those friends was Corey.  He and Rebecca hit it off immediately since both were active and enjoyed the same kinds of outdoor activities.  The “face taking” that led me to believe that Corey was much older proved to be incorrect.  He was in fact in his upper-twenties, around the same age as Rebecca. Needless to say they became good friends right from the start.  As we got word of their deepening friendship an old feeling began to creep into my heart.  In October, Rebecca volunteered to go to New Orleans to serve as a coordinator for a short term mission project that was rehabilitating houses destroyed by hurricane Katrina.  We heard that Corey had sent her flowers while she was in New Orleans.  Was our daughter falling in love with a black man?

            My wife had never met Corey but she shared my same sentiments.  We would take a wait and see strategy and let this run its course.  As the old saying goes, I want you for my brother but not my brother in law!  We would keep our feelings to ourselves for now.  Maybe the relationship would pass.

God smiles –

            During the period from Rebecca’s arrival in Charleston and the end of November, God brought across my path two movies that I am confident caused Him to chuckle.  The first was a movie made in the late sixties about a white daughter who brings her black fiancé home to meet her liberal minded parents.  Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was a hit comedy starring Sidney Poitier as the congenial fiancé and Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as the alarmed parents.  One of the many lines that God used to prick my heart occurred as Spencer Tracy was perplexed and forlorn about their predicament.  His wife began to laugh at him, and he inquired as to the source of her amusement.  She replied, “why should we be surprised, didn’t we raise her that way?”  The words struck home to me.  We had raised our children to be color blind and now I was fretting over Rebecca turning out just the way we had taught her.

            The second movie was a more recent version of the same concept that starred comedian Bernie Mack.  This movie had a twist in that the family is black and the boyfriend is white.  The consternation that Bernie experienced was used of the Lord to expose the poorly hidden thoughts of my own heart.  God was revealing that I still had that sinful way of thinking that I had assumed was long ago confessed and overcome.

My worst fear comes true –

            In early December we got a phone call from Rebecca.  “Corey and I want to begin dating and he wanted me to get your blessing before we start.”   She shared that she had assured him that it was not necessary but he had insisted.  She could detect my apprehension immediately.  My wife Jane was standing near me and picked up on the tenor of our conversation.  I told Rebecca that my apprehension about a bi-racial relationship had to do with the fact that our extended family would need to be considered.  She countered that there was no Biblical reason that she should not date Corey.  He was a Godly man and their racial differences were not the issue. 

From her perspective the problem was that I was a Racist.  “Oh, I’m not a racist!” I said.  My mind returned to the nightly news clips and the horrific way the black marchers were treated there.  That’s racism.  I am not a racist.  She gently disagreed and challenged me to think about her assessment.  I tried to dissuade her conclusion based on the premise that, though all things are lawful, not all things are expedient, according to the apostle Paul.  “There are doors to the Gospel that will be closed to you as a couple because of being bi-racial” I countered.  She responded that, though that was possible, there would also be doors opened because of it.

            We left the conversation with the promise that her mother and I would pray about the matter and get back to her.  As Jane and I talked about the situation we both agreed that the main issue was our parents and how they would react to the news.  But inside I knew better.  It was my own heart that was being challenged by the Holy Spirit, but my flesh was confident that I was on solid ground with the Pauline teaching on expedience.  Didn’t Paul preach forcibly to the Galatian church about the issue of circumcision not being necessary for salvation, as the Jewish believers were teaching?  But then later he had the young Greek, Timothy, circumcised to allay racial problems with the church in Jerusalem.   I rationalized that Paul’s was a racial decision based on taking steps not to offend for the sake of the Gospel.  Not good exegesis but a good excuse for my feelings.

            What exactly did it mean to be a racist?  I turned to the dictionary for clarification.  The answer was very simple.   A racist is someone who thinks that their race is superior to another’s.  Wow!  When I boiled this thing down, my problem was just that.  I thought that being white skinned was superior to being black skinned.  There was no simpler way to cut it.  The Lord was asking me, what about you is superior to Corey, or God forbid, Ricardo and Marsha or Sheila Johnson?  Is it the texture of my hair?  Is it the mannerisms that I have?  Is it the neighborhood that I grew up in?  Is it the kind of clothes that I wear?  Is it my manner of speech?  Just what about me is superior?

The Battle of the Heart –

            I knew in my heart that I was on slippery ground but on the chance that I was onto something with this Pauline expedience thing, I went to see my Pastor.  I was sure he would have some insights for me.  I laid out my dilemma and how my daughter had concluded that I was a racist.  I explained the example I had from Paul’s experience with Timothy.  As I fully expected, he shared that the only exhortation in the scriptures regarding relationships is that the couple not be unequally yoked, a believing Christian with an unbeliever.

            His response took away my only crutch.  Though Paul had considered the issue of race in his handling of the Jerusalem church, my issue had more to do with my racism than the Gospel.  The problem was that I thought my race was superior to Corey’s and that was the sum of it. 

Victory in Jesus… after conviction and confession  –

            If we confess our Sin, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our Sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  That is the promise we have in Christ Jesus. 

1^st John 1; 9

            As I began to honestly assess the feelings my wife and I shared, we came to the clear conclusion that Rebecca was right.  We are racists.  I can’t put my finger on the exact area that caused me to think that my race was superior, but in my heart of hearts, I knew that the accusation is true.  My only response needed to be confession of the sin and asking the Lord to forgive us and help us gain victory.  I was finally getting to the place where I would be able to judge Corey by the content of his character and not the color of his skin.  As I put off the sin, I began to put on a spirit of acceptance that would soon lead to an embrace of this man of God and his growing love for my daughter.

The meeting –

            Maribeth would be graduating from Charleston Southern in mid-December and we would be going down for the ceremony.  Corey requested that Jane and I meet with him during our visit to discuss his and Rebecca’s request for our blessing of their dating relationship.  We had put the race issue behind us and were looking forward to meeting with him and sharing about our journey thus far and extending our blessing on them.  We decided to let the bi-racial issue unveil itself to our extended family rather than make it a point of attention.  I think that was a good decision since it has not seemed to be troublesome to them.

            Corey is a wise man and his demeanor is cordial and sensitive to the issue.  He won the hearts of our extended family with his friendly smile and his Godly character.  His embrace by our other children was facilitated by the training that they had received growing up, the same training that somehow Jane and I had missed, or dismissed along the way.

             Winter would give way to spring then summer, and soon Corey would be asking us for Rebecca’s hand in marriage.  We enthusiastically granted our blessing and they were engaged that fall.  With great fanfare they were united in Holy Matrimony the following March, the day before our wedding anniversary.  God healed my heart, and my racist feelings dissipated with time.  I soon found myself judging others when I sensed their uneasiness with my new son’s color.  My how easily we forget where God has brought us from!

Fred and Sue, a similar situation for us to “fix” -

            We heard of a situation similar to ours that friends of our daughter Rachel were experiencing.  Rachel and Mark had befriended a couple who were bi-racial and the girl’s parents were not embracing the concept at all.  We felt an immediate connection with the parents, having struggled with the issue of racism ourselves.  Jane and I discussed how we would love to be able to share our own journey with them, with the expectation that they would get victory over their racism as well, and be able to experience the freedom that we enjoyed.

            Before we were able to offer them the benefit of our counsel, the girl decided to honor her parent’s wishes and break off the relationship.  We were saddened by the turn of events and the fact that the underlying racism would continue on in the lives of her parents. 

The Move –

            In the fall of 2010, Jane and I came to the realization that God had put a desire in our hearts to relocate from our home state of Maryland to be near the girls in South Carolina.  Rachel and Rebecca had married and established themselves in the Charleston area.  After years of taking a few courses per semester, our daughter Julie had graduated from community college in 2008 and decided to complete her Elementary Education degree at Charleston Southern University as well.  Maribeth, who was the first to head off to Charleston, was due to be married in December.  So all four of our daughters were living there and it seemed like a new season was upon us. 

            We were not sure how long all of them would be in one place and we were drawn to live close to them as adults and anticipated that grandchildren would be coming along at some point as well. 

            We purchased a home in Summerville SC that November, anticipating a move after the New Year.  Maribeth and Benjamin were married in December and we celebrated the occasion by taking a family cruise after the wedding, without the newlyweds of course.  Much to our surprise, Rebecca and Corey announced at dinner on the first night of the cruise that they had a stowaway with them.  Our first grandchild would be born the following June!

At the end of January, 2011, we made the move to Summerville.  Our son decided to make the move as well and joined us the following May.  May was a big month for us as both Julie and Rebecca graduated from Charleston Southern University;  Julie, with a degree in Elementary Education, and Rebecca with a degree in Business Administration.  By this time Rebecca was very robust with our first grandbaby, which she was due to deliver in early June.

            At a family gathering after the graduation ceremony, we were introduced by Julie to her friend Eli.  Eli and Julie graduated together and, surprising to us, it appeared that a relationship was developing.  Eli was a communication major and I asked him how he would use his new degree.  He responded that he intended to use it to talk to people.  As I would later learn, it turns out that Eli is quite a communicator.  He is well known on the campus at Charleston Southern, having played quarterback for the football team during his first years at the school.  He gave up the position when the Lord planted a deep desire in his heart to use his life to reach and disciple the lost for Jesus Christ. 

            He had responded to the call and immersed himself into becoming a man after God’s heart.  What great character to be found in a young man.  By the way, did I mention that Eli is black?

The Fall – Sin rears its ugly head, again

            Be careful when you think you have arrived victorious over a sin issue that has plagued you in the past.  Proverbs 16:18 says that Pride goes before destruction and a Haughty Spirit before a fall!  Out of nowhere, or so it seemed, my racist sin came flooding back full force. 

Wasn’t it enough to have one son in law who was black?  How many families have two? 

Confession, again –

Where did these thoughts come from?  I was sure that I had dealt with the issue of racism.  Hadn’t we embraced Corey and his family?  I was certain that we had grown in Christ likeness in the matter of racism and were even equipped to help others plagued by the same wrong thinking.  I quickly reasoned that this was different.  We don’t know anything about this guy.  But again, I realized that, though it was true that we didn’t know Eli, the color of his skin was the issue. How would I confront the racist feelings I had towards Eli?

The path forward -

            My first inclination was to talk to one of my son in laws who worked closely with Eli and knew him personally.  “Tell me about his character, what kind of person is he, what is his story?”  Mark told me of his great respect for Eli. He informed me about Eli’s star football career and how he had given it up.  Mark said that he would be blessed to have his sister marry a guy with such excellent character.  I was on the right track, gaining the information I needed to judge him on the content of his character and not his skin color, understanding Eli’s personhood, his heart for God, and his calling in life. 

            Graciously, Eli visited with my wife and me and acquainted us with his life’s story.  He shared about his childhood in Florida, his parents and how they guided his development, his athletic prowess and how God had used it to ultimately bring him to salvation and growth in Godliness.  He told of his sense of calling to be a man that impacts the phenomena of absentee fatherhood in the black family.  His visit allowed me to see God at work in the life of a man of vision, while at the same time working in my own heart, breaking down wrong thinking and replacing it with right thinking.

            We were delighted to give our blessing on their growing relationship and were blessed a second time having been able to overcome sinful hearts and grow in Christ likeness.

Julie, Peru, and Steven –

            Eli asked me to meet with a student from Charleston Southern named Steven.  I wasn’t sure of the reason but am always delighted to talk to students about any subject.  It turned out that Steven had accompanied our daughter Julie on a church mission trip to Peru.  After initial introductions, Steven asked me to tell him about my journey regarding inter-racial dating. 

            Steven is black and has found it troubling that the issue of race has continued to plague most white Christians.  In discussions with Christian students on campus he was disturbed to find that many white students readily defend their belief that inter-racial dating is wrong, a belief that he kindly assessed as racism. 

            In our discussions I was surprised to learn that, from his perspective, most black people do not find the issue of inter-racial relationships a problem.  I envy that they do not see themselves superior to others because of their skin color.

God’s Heart My Heart

            Racism, though easy to describe, one who thinks his race is superior to another’s, is much harder to eradicate in the recesses of the human heart.  Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it?  Only God can, and he has graciously given his Holy Spirit to indwell every true follower of Christ to point out our innermost thoughts.  He is the third member of the Trinity, who convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment.  God has also given us His Word, the Bible, which according to Hebrews 4:12, is a living book, active and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing, able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart.

            God is faithful to point out the true thoughts and intentions of the heart that lie hidden from others, and, oftentimes, from ourselves.  Growing in Christ likeness is a process of facing our faults head on, confessing them as sin, and structuring for change that will produce the fruit of God in our lives.  Lasting fruit, fruit that those who don’t know Christ long for.  A fragrance, that is not only sweet to the world around us, but is especially sweet to our Heavenly Father. 

You see, ultimately it is God’s Glory that is the issue of our lives.  We were saved to be ambassadors of God, reflecting all of his attributes to a lost world.  He is building a Kingdom of Worshippers from every nation under heaven that will eternally enjoy His presence and the eternal unfolding of His love.  Our task here in this life is to be Christ to others so that He can reveal Himself in and through the character of our lives.

The continual struggle…

            So what thoughts have I put off and what structures for change have I put on in their place in this matter of racism?  First, I needed to engraft the teaching of James 2 regarding prejudice or “face taking”, that tendency to quickly assess a person based on first impressions.  James says do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus with an attitude of personal favoritism.  If you show partiality you are committing sin.  I had to come to grips with the fact that I am doing just that whenever I “face take”.  Engrafting is the process of memorizing and meditating on a truth from God’s word until it becomes a part of our thought life, producing change that reflects God’s way of thinking and acting versus our natural tendencies.

This racism issue is no easy matter to overcome.  Face taking happens the moment I encounter someone.  They can be walking down the street, as I pass by in the car, in a restaurant, talking to friends on campus, passing in the grocery store, everywhere that I encounter people that are different than me.  I judge them based on the neighborhood they are in, or what they are wearing, or what they are carrying.  What their children are doing or not doing.  The kind of car they have or the shape it is in.  The indictment list seems endless and is so easy to instantly establish. 

In addition, it is not limited to my response to black folks.  I have the same response to other races, ethnicities, and for that matter socioeconomic status as well.  I view the externals and make my case for superiority.  My daughters Maribeth and Rebecca live in a socially diverse area of Charleston.  They have taught me much about living in community with diversity.  Since I visit them often I have many opportunities to put the teaching of James into practice. 

Confess the sin to God.   “Father, I am wrong to think that I am superior to that person”.  Please forgive me.

In place of instant judgment, I think about their lives before God.  Do they know Christ, what is their life situation?  Do they have a family?  I pray for them that Christ will make himself known to them and bring them into a love relationship that is real and personal.  What act of kindness can I do for them?  Oftentimes it is just a smile and a friendly greeting that will give blessing to a person and I find it blesses me just as much.  Little acts like these tend to open a gateway for God’s love that would not be possible otherwise.

As I put these things into practice I am gaining victory.  The experiences have humbled me and as I encounter people dealing with the multitude of life’s struggles, I find I have a new attitude toward them.  We are all in the process of “becoming”.  None of us has arrived but we all press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Onward and upward we go –

            Eli came to ask us for Julie’s hand in marriage.  As we talked he shared about his deep love for her.  How her attributes dovetail with his weaknesses as well as his strengths completing her shortcomings and how God will use their love for each other to minister to a cross spectrum of people experiencing the struggles of life in a fallen world.  My wife and I are grateful that God has brought us Corey and Eli, two black sons that love our daughters enough to challenge us to biblical Christian thinking.

How about you?  Is racism present in your life?  Remember it is simply the belief that your race is superior to another’s.  I hope it won’t take as long for you to recognize it in your heart as it did me.  God will be faithful to point it out, and upon confession, will forgive your sin and work in you to make you like Jesus.  In a perfect world there will be no racism present.  That world will not come to pass until Jesus, the Prince of Peace, comes and sets up his Kingdom.  Until then, the Christian’s victory in this area will go a long way to showing God’s heart to the nations.  For that is the hope of glory, Jesus Christ living in you! 

If you do not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, the path is quite simple.  God is a magnificent God, worthy of our worship and love.  He is also Holy and cannot allow sin in His presence.  Knowing that all people are born with a sin nature, Jesus became a human being, lived a sinless life, and died on a rugged cross and rose from the dead, to purchase salvation for anyone who would put their trust in Him. He suffered the wrath of God in your place. Recognize you are a sinner and need salvation.  Ask Jesus to be your Savior.  The Bible promises that anyone who puts their faith in Christ will become a new creature, the old things will pass away and all things will become new.  Won't you trust Him today?

Godspeed,   Glenn

July 2014