The Answer To Our Country's Racial Divide Is Not Politics.
May/20/2022 12:32 PM Filed in: CrossWinds | Culture
It feels like a day can’t go by without articles on racism or white supremacy dominating the headlines. As I write, Joyce Beatty—Democratic Representative from Ohio, blames a recent Dallas shooting in a Korean hair salon on white supremacy. Liz Cheney accuses GOP leadership of white nationalism after Buffalo shooter Payton Gendron went on a killing spree in a grocery store. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot allocated $10 million of COVID funds to racism in Chicago after declaring it a public health crisis. The list never ends.
What if racism was not at its root a political issue that needed to be solved by legislation but at its root, it was an issue of sin that can only be solved by Jesus? What if the task of Christ’s church was to show the world how Jesus solves the age-old problem of the racial divide?
What if racism was not at its root a political issue that needed to be solved by legislation but at its root, it was an issue of sin that can only be solved by Jesus? What if the task of Christ’s church was to show the world how Jesus solves the age-old problem of the racial divide?
In Genesis 1:26-27, we read that all people are created in the image of God. In John 3:16, we learn that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Everyone in the world is created in God’s image, no matter their color or culture. The only way for anyone in the world to be forgiven of their sin and made right with God is by Jesus, no matter their race or place.
In the Old Testament, God divided humanity into two groups, the Jews and the Gentiles. God’s intent was for the Jews to be a kingdom of priests bringing God’s light to the Gentile nations. The Jews didn’t accomplish this. Jesus came to solve this. One of the best examples of God solving the racial divide is found in Acts 10. In that chapter, the apostle Peter admitted he would never eat with a Gentile but God showed him not to call anyone unclean that God made clean. As Peter said in Acts 10:34-35, “…Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
Later in Acts 10:42-43, Peter says, “…he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he (Jesus) is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” In eternity, Jesus will be the judge of all races. Jesus is the only one who can forgive sin and save people of all races.
This means the Jesus who died for us is bigger than any racial divisions that divide us. The Jesus who died for us is also the only one who can unite us. This is why the answer to racism is not found in more legislation. It is found in the good news of Jesus saving people of every race and creed. The church’s job is not just to tell the world the good news of what Jesus has done but show the world how different races and backgrounds come together in the church on Sunday morning in love for Jesus and one another.
As Galatians 3:28 reminds us, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(Written for the Dickinson County News May 20, 2022)
blog comments powered by Disqus