TheNarrowRoadPursued

Gal 3.25-There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all 1 in Christ Jesus #noracism

It’s dominating the news: University students chanting overt racist ugliness. Why are we so shocked and appalled? When was it announced that racism went the way of the polio virus? I submit that this nation, and perhaps the world, is even more racist than it was when I was a child.

There is a story in Genesis which recounts a time in human history when ‘The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.’ To borrow from the work of Russian sociologist and once Harvard professor, Pitirim Sorokin, ‘Moderns’ are once again in the fully flowered ‘Sensate’ or ‘materialistic’ culture cycle. We are leaving the ‘rule of law’ for the ‘rule of me,’ and our thoughts and imaginations are consistently turning to evil.

I remember walking the dirt paths of my beloved Uganda casually chatting with several Ugandan men. All the sudden there was a stir in the group and the conversation quickly left English for tribal language, leaving me befuddled. Concerned, I asked what happened. A close friend told me that some in the group were upset because a person from a ‘hated tribe’ had just passed us.

I was confused, so I asked a lot of questions: Was this person an immediate threat? No. Does anyone here know this person? No. When was the last time anyone from this tribe caused trouble? Decades ago. Had anyone in the group shared the good news of Jesus with someone from this tribe? Absolutely not! How did everyone even know this person was from the ‘hated tribe’ since he appeared to be dressed just like our group and lacked any other easily identifiable differences in skin color, facial construction, etc.? You just ‘know.’ White people cannot see the obvious differences. 

Yes we can. I have since learned to see many of the subtle ‘differences’ my untrained eye would otherwise overlook. Now I can be a racist on two continents! Yes, I am a racist. There is no way for me to naturally escape it. I used to be offended to be labeled as racist since from my childhood I have always have had significant relationships with persons from other colors and cultures and religions. Surely that cannot be me.

There is no sufficient amount of politically correct tolerant cosmetics to cover up racism. There is no mound of legislation large enough to alleviate, must less eliminate what is endemic to heart of every person on the planet: we are naked and ashamed. Our shame and our nakedness result in our constant judgment of others based upon nothing more elaborate than our own exalted opinion.

The only solution is when every white, black, yellow, red, male, female, LGBTQ, fat, skinny, tall, short, sharp, dull, rich, poor, etc., etc., etc., stands humbled before the God who created us all by hand.  Each one must yield to His complete authority by bending their knee to the Lordship of Jesus alone. This Jesus is the only one who can deliver the promise that there is ‘…no longer Jew nor Greek, male or female…’ and can cause us to truly love each other in a way that conquers racism.