I am so sorry. I am listening, and I want to learn. 

During this unbelievable and astonishing time in our culture, two pictures come to my mind, both from The Chosen series (if you haven’t watched it yet, DO IT!). 

The first one is from episode 6, when Jesus heals the leper (see Luke 5:12-16). The tension found in the disciples trying to keep Jesus away from the hurting and broken is certainly apropos and poignant for our time. And what Jesus did is even more so: he moved toward the sufferer – toward the broken. Touched him. Loved him. Healed him. And the response in the scene as you watch it causes me to weep every time I see it. When did followers of Jesus start to move AWAY from the broken and hurting in our culture instead of moving TOWARD?

The second scene is even more reflective of our current condition. It’s Jesus and the woman at the well (episode 8). The racist disciples don’t want to go through Samaria, and they get caught up in politics and opinions. Jesus then obliterated their stereotypes, went through Samaria, listened to and impacted a woman’s heart, and brought people (those who were deemed as “other” in both race and gender) to himself. When have I allowed politics and opinions to shape my understanding and interaction with a group of people rather than interacting  with God and that group myself? And when have I possibly stymied a move of God because of that prejudice?

Let it be known: I am FOR my black brothers and sisters and FOR my brother and sister peacekeepers in every job; I am AGAINST racism in any form (like the abuse and then killing of George Floyd) and AGAINST abuse of power in any form (like the recent photo op of the president). I am AGAINST politicizing any of these beliefs and am FOR doing what is RIGHT for any and every human. I am FOR human equality and worth regardless of class, color and creed and call every Jesus-follower to the same.  

This is a spiritual battle, and satan is loving the discord and disunity in the church and in the land. We MUST fight the attitudes inside us with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. We MUST fight to respond to others as we would want to be responded to. We must fight to TRULY love people (even those different from us in any way, for then we are reflecting our Father in heaven – Matthew 5:43-48). And that love leads us to believing the best, and not assuming the worst, in any and every human being. 

This must begin with me. 

I am so sorry. I am listening, and I want to learn.