Geuine Unity

Note: This was written over several days during the week of May 24, and may not include the most recent developments surrounding this continual breaking news story.

This post is going take a different emphasis, focusing on current events surrounding the death of two African-American males. I will try my hardest to approach these appalling tragedies through the lens of Christ. I am hesitant on speaking out on this issue, primary because I am a white male, and have never experienced any racial discrimination in my life. However, I am hopefully writing this from the perspective of a Christian, rather than a sub category I may fall into. I will not bash the police enforcement in this country, either. I have a high regard for good officers who put their lives on the line every time the uniform is worn. Over the past couple of weeks, several cases of racial injustice have been in the public's eye. Ahmaud Aubrey's killers were arrested two months after his death. He was a black man, jogging in a wealthy Georgia neighborhood, who just happened to match the description of a robber on the run. One of three suspects now is charged in the investigation , and he worked for 30 years in the Glynn County District Attorney's Office. After this catastrophe, Minneapolis Police were attempting to arrest George Floyd. An officer kneed on his neck trying to restrain him. George Floyd was accused of trying to pass a counterfeit twenty dollar bill.  It is unclear whether he knew the money was fake. Floyd could be heard on a videotape pleading to the officer that he couldn't breathe. He later died soon after this, according to city officials. The four officers were fired. One was charged, and the investigation is ongoing. Violent protests broke out in Minneapolis. Other cities around the country, are also seeing these protests occur. Less severe incidents have occurred since COVID-19 lock down easements have lessened across the country. An example was black man in New York's Central Park asking a white women to put a leash on her dog in a section of the park where leashes were required. The women called the police and claimed the man was harassing her, and she was in fear for her life. Police did show up however no one was arrested or given a citation. The women strangely surrendered that dog to a local shelter. How, as Christians are we supposed to act when injustices happen to our brothers and sisters of a different minority? Paul writes to the Galatian church about disunity in Christ going on among the Jews and Gentiles. "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither nor slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" Galatians 3: 28-29. All of humanity is equal in God's sight, and are joint-heirs in the Lord,s promise to Abraham. The promise is to bless his descendants and to make them as numerous as the stars in the sky. As followers of the Lord, we are to strive for equality and unity during our time on this Earth. The Galatians' Jews thought they were better than the Gentiles. Jesus redeemed all of humanity by dying on a cross and being raised three days later. Both the Jew and Gentile are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone. The Gentiles were being looked down upon for not observing Jewish traditions. We are all saved by the grace of Jesus, in whom our faith lies. We are also called to love one another, just as God loved us by giving up his only son to redeem us from our sinful nature. "Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, be compassionate and humble" 1 Peter 3:8. Jesus says in John 13:34, ": A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you, so we must love one another." From the passage in 1st Peter, we are to love one another in such a way as to be like-minded, sympathetic, compassionate, and humble towards one another. We are to care deeply for each other. We should put ourselves in each other's situations, to truly have genuine sympathy and compassion towards one another. My preacher says the best way to get to know someone is to spend time with that individual, especially if you don't share the same life experiences. When it comes to friendships, we typically hang out with people that mirror ourselves. So get out of your comfort zone, and take the time to build meaningful relationships with people who are different from yourself. That could be anything from race, disability, social status, political views, nationally, language, income bracket, education level, or anything else that makes us different from one another. As Christians, we should view every person that crosses our path as a brother or sister created in the image of God. We are all equally loved in his eyes, and no one is set above another in the Lord's creation. What is the right way to respond to injustices with a Christ-like attitude? The answer is with love and unity in Christ. Addresses this huge act of incivility, when you see discrimination occurring in plain sight. Examples might be if a business owner is known to be rude towards minorities, take your business elsewhere. You may have at least one Facebook friend who posts racist things occasionally. Just unfriend them. If you notice a politician spreading racial ideology, or trying to divide people on the basis of their differences, vote for another person on the ballot. When you get the chance, vote these people out of office, regardless of their party affiliation. When your actions or words hurt someone else, apologize to them face to face,  and ask for their forgiveness. These are small steps and certainly do not go far enough to make racial injustices right in this country. If Christians would set the gold standard on how to love one another, maybe some progress could be made in this area. Loving your closest friends is hard sometimes. Loving others with whom we have differences, can seem impossible. Jesus' words are not a suggestion, but rather a commandment. This post or meme has been going around on social media. I agree with the statement 100%, however, I thought it needed a couple of additional lines.

I 'm not black, but I see you.
I'm not black, but I hear you.
I'm not black, but I mourn with you.
I am not black, but I will fight for you with God's grace.
I am not black, but you are my brothers and sisters.
I am not black, but I love you as Christ has loved me first.
💗💗💗💗💗💗

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."
-Romans 12:9-10

Prayer

I must confess these two truths before we dive straight into this blog. First of all, I don't make enough time to spend alone with God in prayer. Second, when I do pray my words seem to be hollow or even perhaps insincere to a degree. I know my heart is sincere, but they still feel like meaningless chatter coming from my lips. As I am typing these insecurities, I realize that most western cultures have some hang-ups when it comes to prayer. Maybe you have some of these hang-ups yourself. It's awkward asking the God of the universe for help.  Furthermore, there is no verbal response on His end of the line. Once on a mission trip in the Appalachian countryside of north Tennessee, our host told us the following story one evening after we had finished our nightly devotional.  Our host had been a missionary for several years in Africa.  One of the people he was working with was a native African. One evening the two were having a discussion in which the subject of prayer came up. The man told our host that Americans can sing all night long, but when it comes to praying they spend five minutes on it. He continued saying Africans would regularly pray all night long. This has been backed up by the great revival that is happening all over the Global South (Africa and Asia primary). These continents have seen a surge of new believers and churches emerging over the last fifteen years, and it happened with faithful individuals making a commitment to pray like never before. That story has stayed with me all these years,  for some reason. Prayer is the most important tool a Christian has at their disposal. So why is it so hard sometimes for us to make a genuine effort to open up a dialogue with our Father in heaven? We are so busy and too distracted even in the midst of a semi lock-down. The world convinces us that we must be either be working or be entertained all day long for our lives to be fulfilled. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6:18, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." Notice three things here in this passage, Paul instructs us to pray in the Spirit. When your words are lacking or you can't get any words out,  the Holy Spirit will intercede on our behalf. Second, on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. God wants you and me to be in constant communication with Him all day long, from the smallest issue to the biggest problem. By nature, we value our independence and feel weak asking for help, especially when it should be a simple fix. God desires to be in an active relationship with us. Prayer gives us a direct avenue to our Father. Nothing else can compare. Finally, Paul writes keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Yes, we should come to God with our needs and desires, however, we should constantly be lifting other people up in our prayers. This is the greatest way of showing love to someone else when we make the effort and time to bring their needs before God in our own personal prayer life. The disciples asked Jesus one day to teach them how to pray.  He didn't give them a complex formula to follow, nor were there any fancy words or lingo to remember. Jesus simply said,

 "This then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgotten our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." 

If you feel like your words are not worthy to be spoken to God, know that there is no human in history that had acceptable words for the Father except for Jesus himself. As long as you come with a sincere heart, and have the Spirit running through you that is enough. God wants a constant dialogue with you, his own unique creation. If you don't have any words use the same prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. This can even be a launching point for you to have a more meaningful prayer life.

Here are two books to use as resources:

• Before Amen (The Power of Simple Prayers) written by Max Lucado 
• Miraculous Movements, written by Jerry Trousdale. (written about the Global South's Revival)

All The Pieces Fit

Sometimes I wish my life plan came packaged in a box like a jigsaw puzzle. Normally, people who do puzzles as a hobby have a big empty table to lay out each piece. They start with the outside edge of the puzzle and work inwards. Of course, the box shows them what the puzzle is supposed to look like when it is completed.  Our attempts to see the big picture is a futile exercise, but as human beings society tells us must have a plan for tomorrow, next week, and for five years down the road. Do not get me wrong I believe a level of planning is good for our lives, but over planning can be harmful to our mental state. We don't know what tomorrow brings and certainly, a five-year plan can be murky at best. We can hope and put a plan into action for things to line up as we see fit. Maybe we will get close, however, there are entire sections missing from the puzzle. What about the picture on the outside of the box, or the box itself? Our futures cannot be placed neatly inside a box, or be pieced together like a puzzle. The only being who knows exactly what our future holds is God, our father. He is the God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow and he knows how our lives are going play out. Proverbs 16:9 says, "In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps." We can only have a simple outline, anything other than that means we are not trusting God to guide our steps. God is already at tomorrow, and he already sees the finished puzzle. Trust in him even if your life is going great, but also trust him if you are unsure what direction life is taking you. After all, he is the one who created you uniquely for his plans. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future, Jeremiah 29:11." In the season of the unknown surrounding COVID-19, remember that God has control over this. Furthermore, you might be dealing with a loss of a job, food insecurity, loneliness from isolation, depression or other difficult situations in your life. Focus on the next five minutes, do not try to plan out every little detail for tomorrow. Jesus says in Mathew 6:34, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." If you are anxious about anything communicate with God by prayer and petition with gladness in your hearts (Philippians 4:6). Ultimately, I believe that God wants his children to look like Jesus more and more each day. However, I am not going to achieve this without his guidance or help from other believers that I surround myself with. Other people can help me with the picture on the outside of the box. While God's words help me sort the pieces into groups to start placing them into place on the table. Finally, the Holy Spirit guides me to place the pieces right where they need to be. Just trust in him and he will reveal the completed finished puzzle at the right time.