“Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” - 1 Peter 1:17-19
“Supernatural sense is the gift of His Son, and we should never put our common sense on the throne. The Son always recognizes and identifies with the Father, but common sense has never yet done so and never will. Our ordinary abilities will never worship God unless they are transformed by the indwelling Son of God. We must make sure that our human flesh is kept in perfect submission to Him, allowing Him to work through it moment by moment.” Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest
Our nature, as mere mortals, is to cling to our culture, even after we are born again. We embrace those things that we have been taught are right and wrong by man. When I was in grade school I can remember reading about the United States being a “melting pot” where many nations came together to be one people. The experiment of the United States, actually, is man’s attempt to do what only God can do. That attempt has failed. What I see today is one nation with many cultures trying to cling to what they were before they or their ancestors came to the United States. People set up enclaves centered on their ethnicity or nationality. European, African, Hispanic, the list goes on. It is the nature of man to associate with people who look and act like themselves. Among Christians, it is the same. Someone said that 11:00am Sunday is the most segregated hour of the week in the United States. For most people when they read this, their minds will think I am referring to black and white, but it is more pervasive than that.
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither 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 3:26-29
2 Corinthians 5:17says - old things – including our primary devotion to our race or ancestors nationality – are gone and all has become new. That is a spiritual truth – a fact. One which many Christians have a hard time living with and applying. Why? Because devotion to the traditions of their natural fathers are very strong and the way some Christians treat other Christians because of those differences have a hard time accepting that truth as truth. I have said several times, if I was standing with a group of men and said something against their fathers or ancestors, they would become angry, but if I used God’s name in vain, few, if any, would care. Why? Because they are more devoted to men than they are to God. When I would preach in a Haitian church for the first time, I would always begin with “Mwen pa blan, mwen fre nou” which is to say “I am not white, I am your Brother” That was a hard truth to digest for a congregation of mountain people who rarely saw a white man. My point was that I was not standing before them as a white American, but as an adopted son of God, saved by the blood of Jesus and His resurrection.
How do you want people to see you? How do you see yourself? First as a Christian? If you believe Matthew 22:37, that you are to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Where does that leave your natural heritage and the traditions of your father? Listen, what I am telling you is truth, but it is a hard truth. It is difficult to overcome. We don’t all have to speak with the same accent or eat the same food or like the same clothing style, but we serve the same Lord and belong to the same family. What the founders of this country tried to set in place with written law, God has already put in place through His Son by His Spirit. So maybe we should act like it.
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
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