love one another...

My heart has been so heavy this week by the state of this fallen world. I’ve often found myself with a tightness & an ache in my chest that has driven me to tears more times than I can count. It seems as if everywhere you turn you are confronted with anger & hate. Sin & unrighteousness run rampant. The murder of an unarmed man in broad daylight that has been viewed like entertainment across multiple forms of media is sickening. I refused to watch because I felt it was dishonoring to George Floyd & because I knew that my heart could not take the pain of watching a precious life forcibly taken. How another human being could kneel on another person’s neck, choking the life out of him, despite pleas for mercy is beyond my comprehension. In my times of deepest sadness & confusion or when I am at a loss & need comfort I turn to God’s Word because He promises to be near to the brokenhearted & to save the crushed in spirit. 

The verse that was taught repeatedly when I first became a believer comes to mind: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that WHOEVER believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Jesus gave Himself for sinful men. Not for one race or for people with a specific color of skin. For all men. As I heard someone say recently, “we are all one race. The human race.” 

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. - Psalm 139:14

God knit together every skin color together in their mother’s womb. He created each person in His own image & for His glory. God loves variety. Just as God gave some people straight hair & some people curly hair, He gave some light skin & some darker skin. We are all beautiful in His sight. Racism is treating God’s creation as if God Himself made a mistake. Racism is a result of thinking ourselves higher & better than another.  Ultimately, racism is thinking that we know better than our infallible Creator. 

God commands each of us to love one another. How different the world would be if we truly lived out this commandment. 

Also weighing heavily on my heart is how I can possibly help in a situation that feels so much bigger than me. But God calls us to be lights in the world & what could be better in times of darkness than being a light. God requires us to do justice, love mercy & walk humbly with Him. And so I believe that to do nothing & to say nothing against injustice would be disobedience to God. 

I am aware that because of my unjust privilege I will never truly know the fear that the parent of every black child has every time their child leaves the house. I will never fully understand having to teach my child not to run because someone may think that because of the color of their skin they must be running away from the scene of a crime. I will never quite know the feeling of sitting my child down to explain how the should respond if they are ever pulled over by a police officer because reaching for their ID could be the difference between life & death. I will never completely comprehend how to warn them that they may be unjustly treated just because of their skin color.

It’s not enough to stay silent. Since this issue has again demonstrated the sickening norm of inequality in our country we have already had many hard but good conversations as a family. If, in the end, all I can do is teach my children to see every person as someone who is created by God & who is worthy of love then that is what I will do. I will train them up to have a heart that truly sees people as PEOPLE. I will teach them to stand against racist jokes, racial slurs & to follow God’s command to love their neighbor as themselves. I will encourage them to speak up in times of injustice. 

Today, despite all of the pain, I also praise God because I know He sees the afflicted & executes justice for the oppressed. I know that God is a God of mercy & a God of justice. I continue to pray to God for mercy for our world, for our country, for our leaders, for those in law enforcement & for the family of George Floyd & so many others who have been unjustly murdered just because of the color of their skin. I pray for God’s mercy that leads to repentance for the police officers who were involved in this horrific act & that God would bring about justice. I am also thankful for God’s reminders that there are those in the world who are seeking to show love through acts of kindness. I am grateful for examples of those who chose righteousness over rioting & the police officers who have knelt beside peaceful protestors to show that they too have had enough of police brutality, prejudice & oppression.

 I am comforted to know without a shadow of a doubt that even in the midst of this sinful & fallen world God is still working. He will cause all things to work together for those who love Him & are called according to His purpose. He hears us when we cry out to Him. He is greater than all of the hate. He is just. He is merciful. He is kind. He is good. I pray that in & through this He will be glorified & that people will come to know Him as a result. 

I will love how Jesus loved. I will love the Lord my God & I will love my neighbor as myself. I will be the Good Samaritan. I will do justice, love mercy & walk humbly with Him. I will speak up for injustice. I will do better.