"I (Paul) ... urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:1-5
I was texting with a friend of ours and they used a praying hands emoji 🙏 in the text but the hands were a different color. The color they chose suggested their ethnicity. This is not a criticism of my friend but to point out how difficult it is for Christians of different ethnicities, nationalities, and cultures, even denominational practices to identify with each other as being one. The world, in its spiritual ignorance, requires that we embrace our differences - identify with them firstly. God in His Spiritual wisdom says we are all the same by faith.
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" - 2 Corinthians 5:16-18
I have written about this before - several times - maybe more than several - having posted about spiritual topics over 3000 times. As I have said in the past, when choosing a subject for the devotions, I watch and listen, waiting for the Spirit to prompt me on the focus of what ai am about to write. So here it is. If Christians are to be a light in a world that is day by day becoming more anti-Christian, it is paramount that the world sees us as one.
"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." - John 13:35
We are given plenty of opportunities to declare our natural roots while at the same time claiming to be Christians who are one and who love one another. We all understand what Jesus said. We all understand what Paul wrote. But when we compare it to how many Christians actually treat each other, it is clear that we struggle with living it out. This is what Dr. Tony Evans had to say about it.
"It is technically incorrect, technically, to call yourself a black Christian, or a white Christian or Hispanic Christian, because then you make your color or your culture an adjective.
It’s the job of an adjective to modify a noun, so if you put Christianity in the noun position and your color or culture in the “adjectival” position, you have to keep shaping the noun [who you are as a Christian] so that it looks like the adjective that describes it. So if your color or culture stays in the adjectival position you gotta keep shaping Christianity to look black, or to look white or to look red or to look yellow, [or brown] ’cause that’s the adjectival description you’ve given it.
Your Christianity must always be in the adjectival position, your color and culture must always be in the noun position, so that if anything must be adjusted, it is the noun of your humanity and not the adjective of your faith. You and I are to define our humanity in terms of our faith, not our faith in terms of our humanity. Jesus stayed who He was, but He operated from heaven’s point of view." - Dr. Tony Evans, Seeing Race Through Jesus’ Eyes
Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone
No comments:
Post a Comment