Racism Is Not the Heart of the Issue.

As a rule, I stay out of most political debates. It's not always because I have no opinion, though sometimes I don't know enough about various situations or the individuals involved to have an educated stance on the matter. More often, it's because I have completely given up hope that politics will ever be able to change what's wrong with this world. There was once a king in ancient history who made death the penalty for everything from murder on down to lying. Think it fully stopped people from lying? I doubt it. The existence of some form of rules or laws are necessary for groups of people to live and function; however, that doesn't mean any legal system in the history of humankind has been completely fully fair. Governments are made up of humans, and if humans are sinful and therefore not perfect, no government can ever be perfect, either. I'm not saying that means either that we should overthrow any or every government; and I'm also not saying that means we need to just let things go because nobody's perfect. I am here to say, however, that Jesus laid it out pretty clearly that we are to submit to the authorities over us, and to pray for them. He said that about the Roman government that was far more brutal than almost any I know of in our day and age. I think He meant it, and I don't think there are exceptions.

Now that that's been put out there, I'm about to step into some dangerous territory...

There is no governmental system, no protest, no speech, no kind of political movement or activism or whatever-you-want-to-call-it, that can fix the issue of racism in our country or elsewhere. Words won't do the trick, laws won't do the trick, and guns (or lack thereof) certainly won't do the trick. Reasoning only goes so far, especially when minds (on all sides of the equation) come with their own experiences and stigmas and upbringings on the matter. Some people will never listen. Laws and law enforcement and even the judicial system can only control so much; that's why there's still such a thing as crime. Violence won't do anything either, unless you're planning to just wipe out everyone, and then you'd be right: no people = no racism. But is that really a solution?

Racism has been around a lot longer than some people realize. Go all the way back to some of the first skirmishes and battles between people groups, and you'll find a "we" and "them" mentality. The root of the word racism actually dates back to Hitler's Nazi propaganda, where all kinds of atrocities were justified by the idea that this group or that group of people were less important or less perfect or less fit to live than the one in control. Racism does not and never will boil down to simply white and black. The British Empire was extremely racist towards basically every country they ever took over: from the Native Americans to Africans to Indians, and the list goes on. It wasn't just the British Empire, either. If you want to know about what happened with Belgium's relationship with the Congo, go find the book King Leopold's Ghost. But, people, it didn't start there.

Before Britain was an empire, the Romans (hey, look, same government Jesus said to submit to) were racist towards the peoples they took over as well: they made slaves of Brits and Germanians and basically everyone they conquered, and thought of anyone who wasn't raised like them as barbaric. Asia was in on it too: see China, Japan, and Mongolia, among others. India has for centuries been steeped in racism among its own people with the caste system. Look into European history and you'll see all kinds of racism among "whites"--Germans and Anglos and Saxons and Norsemen, Scots, Franks, Irishmen, vikings...everybody. Everybody thought they were better than everyone else, that their way of life was the only right one, and that others were a threat to it. Look into American history pre-Columbus, and you'll see the majority of the Native American tribes making war on one another and even enslaving each other as well.

It is absolutely ridiculous to me that anybody in the America that has been for centuries a "melting pot" of so many ethnicities and cultures and skin tones, can think that just because any one group of people look "alike" means the individuals with common external attributes are alike inwardly or think the same, or even talk the same. We are all collectively and individually this: human. NOBODY is better than anyone. None of us. So stop acting like it.

We are all depraved and self-seeking and capable of the very worst sins. All of us. You are not an exception, and neither am I. So if anyone is going to play the race card, I have one condition: play all of them.

Can I get really picky here for a sec? Saying that I'm white is really just as ignorant as calling someone else black in the sense of our skin color determining our culture and heritage. Firstly, my skin is not the same color as that sheet of paper, just as she's not the same color as the ink in a classic Sharpie. Secondly, I am a mixture of a lot of "races" (which I don't think even deserves to be a word, because it's completely and historically based in the myth that one group of people is somehow superior or inferior to another). Most of my ancestors as far back as I can trace were Germans on my dad's side, while on my mom's its a mixture of some German also, with Scottish, possibly some Irish, definite Osage (Native Americans--a very brutal tribe in particular, by the way), and probably some "English"--though that's a relative term as well, if you go back far enough. Guess what though? Most "blacks" in America aren't 100% descended from Africans (which is really a huge generalization as well, and don't get me started on the fact that African tribes fought and enslaved each other too, even long before Britian or anyone else ventured there.). There's been a lot of "mixture" with Native Americans, French-Canadians in some parts, "whites," Mexicans, Brazilians, etc.

Nobody's pure anything. So please stop trying to act like one group is so different from any other. I'm not saying different people don't grow up differently; I'm saying once you get beneath the skin, we are all the same, and not one of us (or our ancestors) are righteous. I'm also not saying this racism stuff is okay; it's not, and quite frankly I'm sick of it. But I'm sick of it on all sides. I'm sick of anyone--regardless of their skin tone--thinking they can make a judgment on anyone--regardless of that person's skin color--based upon skin color or any other form of outward appearance.

But as I said in the intro here, governments and talk are not going to fix this. So why am I writing, then? I guess I'm writing in hopes that this will pierce someone's heart. That the walls will drop, and you won't necessarily stop seeing things as black vs. white or white vs. black or white vs. Hispanic or Hispanic vs. black or what-have-you...but that you'll somehow see that racism is still not the heart of the issue. The heart of the issue is your heart; it's my heart; it's all our hearts. And our hearts are sinful. And this world is broken. Racism is just a symptom, and treating it with some kind of medicine will only temporarily block the pain; what we need is healing.

What we need is a new heart in place of this calloused, hateful, vengeful thing. I said we for a reason there. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to stand beside someone I love and care about and punch someone else in the face for treating my friend with less dignity than they would others. You have no idea how often I hear of situations and in my heart, my instinctive reaction is a vengeance that is not justice. I could go knock someone's teeth out, I really could. But would that change their mind, or their heart? It's easy to spew hatred at hatred, to return anger with fury, to let even a noble cause burn within us til it singes the divider between good and evil and justifies taking justice into my own hands when the Lord has said vengeance belongs to Him.

There will be justice. God is not blind to the hurts and happenings in this world, and He has sworn not to let the guilty go unpunished. But that includes you, and me, and even the people we'd like to call innocent. Not one of us is without sin, and sin is sin. It's damning. It holds the power of death, and having it fester in our hearts will only turn them stone cold.

Jesus came into a broken, unjust, tumultuous world and said to live differently. He said to respond to evil with love, to hatred with kindness, to anger with patience He told His disciples to pay taxes to--and thereby help support--a brutal government that would soon be killing His followers by the droves. The same government that had Jesus Himself unjustly tried. But you know what? God used it. Jesus hung on that cross and willingly, knowingly took a penalty He did not deserve, so that others could live. So that God's vow to punish evil could be fulfilled--on the head of the only One who could atone for all of our sins.

This is the power that overcomes the world, the light that drives out the darkness, that heals what sin has broken and torn down. It's found in forgiveness and love, in responding to all kinds of evil with grace. And it's not something we can do on our own. Believe me, I've tried. We cannot do this on our own, for our strength and determination will run out. We need His heart. We need Him to surgically remove our hearts of stone and replace them with one that pumps oxygen and life through us. One that reminds us it's not on our shoulders to change people. That's His job, and though He will undoubtedly use us, in practice that often looks a lot more like submitting to people we don't always agree with, loving people who spew hatred at us and at people we love, forgiving people that revile us, as well as those we can't understand.

Because as often as I want to get on my high horse and shout at people on all sides about racism, I am convicted at heart-level by the fact that apart from a few pivotal factors in my own story, I could easily have come to the same conclusions some of the people I want to shout at have. I am no better, and I have no right to elevate myself above anyone else. We are all in equal, desperate need of having our minds renewed by Jesus's, and having our hearts transformed by His.

I'm not here to say who's right and who's wrong and exactly what happened in Ferguson. I'm here to point the fingers back at every single one of us, and ask all of us (and by us, I mean us humans) where our hearts are at with all of this. Do we really think that sharing the right articles or quotes or making a public statement in one way or another is going to change the way our society functions? I'm not saying it won't have any impact, but I am questioning how deep that impact can go. Social reforms can only go so far to change people's minds and hearts. Outlawing moonshine back in the day didn't make people stop drinking (or brewing), anymore than gun restrictions erase crime. We went through the Civil Rights Movement not all too long ago, but there are still issues that have been festering in people's hearts for decades even since then.

The answer is not in protests and arguments, not even in eloquence. The answer is in the only thing that can break a prideful heart and shape it into something useful: bold, humble, loving forgiveness. This is the truth that turns the world upside down, tilts social norms on their heads, and transforms hearts and minds that could be reached no other way. This is the way of the Kingdom to which we belong if we are Christians. If Christ is our King, let us follow His commands:

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one that is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also... You have heard that it is said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."  -Matthew 5:38-39, 43-48

Longing for Home

Within the past three months, at least three people/families I care about have lost grandparents. I just found out about the third; and one was my family. In fact, I lost my third grandparent this year--sixth if you count great-grandparents that have died within my lifetime. And death is still a weird concept for me. Having someone here breathing one day and gone the next...is never going to feel normal.

There is a crazy amount of peace in the knowledge that all three of the grandparents I know of who have passed away in the past few months--loved Jesus, and are now united with Him, fully seeing the One who has forever fully known them. They are rejoicing in His presence, no longer in pain, no longer weary, no longer hindered by broken bodies. And as one of my friends who recently lost her grandpa related to me, "I'm jealous." More than a little. Because my grandpas and grandma, and her grandpa, and my other friend's granddaddy--they are all in the place my soul longs to be.

But the fact that I am still here on this earth, breathing, means I'm here for a purpose. I'm here for the same purpose these departed loved ones were: to follow Jesus and be His hands and feet on this earth, to somehow be one small part of seeing His Kingdom come more fully to this Earth as it is in Heaven. To love and go after the people within my reach who don't know the One my soul loves, the One who has placed me here to brokenly point them to Him. May they see Him in me as through a mirror darkly, past all my smudges and cracks and failings--so that one day they too may see Him face-to-face in His full glory.

There's a song by Phil Wickham that I had forgotten about until a friend recently posted some of its lyrics online. It's called "Heaven Song," and you should look it up if you've got a sec. The song is about a yearning to be Home. A couple years ago, there were times when I'd retreat to the farthest parking lot at the very edge of my college campus, turn this song up loud, and sing at the top of my lungs. And there at the end of the chorus, where it says, "my soul is getting restless for the place where I belong. I can't wait to join the angels and sing my heaven song," there was a cry and a yearning in my heart, to be able to sing just one note of that song here on the earth.

That's what we're here for. We don't have to wait until we depart from this world to be a foretaste of it. We don't have to do this life alone; Jesus is Emmanuel--He is God with us--and we are present with Him now even if it's not as fully as it shall be one day.

All three of these grandparents we've lost recently have left a legacy and a tremendous impact on the lives of their kids and grandkids. The grief of them no longer being here with us on this earth will never be able to drown that out. Loss hurts because there was something there to begin with. So let's follow in their footsteps--not out of a desire to be remembered, but a desire to live all-out the life we've been entrusted with, to follow God wherever He leads us, to look forward to the day He brings us fully Home.

There's a battle going on. It's not one that can be won with human hands, but one in which the King of Kings has chosen to use our hands anyway. It's amazing, still so overwhelmingly to me, the way He chooses to accomplish His will in this earth. It's not often an easy road, but let us remember the pain is indeed temporary, and it's leading us to something that will last forever. The time for prophecy and teaching and knowledge will pass away, "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away...For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then shall I know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three: but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:9-10, 12-13).

"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:5). So let's love in earnest. Let's fight this fight knowing how the war ends, and who sits on throne even now. Let's live with abandon and recklessness, not acting like this life is all that matters. The world needs to see that glimpse of Jesus; they need to hear that broken, fragmented note of the song that is forever issuing forth around His throne.

In the words of Switchfoot, "If we've only got one shot, if we've only got one life, if time was never on our side, then before I die I want to burn out bright." A candle lit on both ends may burn up quicker, but it also burns more brightly. No matter how much longer each of us has on this earth, let's not lose sight of Home. Let's run this race with endurance, sprinting harder everytime we remember what lies at the end. We are here temporarily, passing through on our way to the place we belong. Let's take some other folks with us! Let's join hands and take a stand against the darkness, even if it means we burn out.

 We're a reflection of the Light; we are not the source. His light will never stop shining. Thanks be to God that it does not rely on us! Yet still He chooses to use us, to make us living reflections of His Light, of His glory. So let us sing in the night. Let our hearts cry out for Home, because Home is truly where the heart is; it's where the One our souls desire to be with, resides. Let's savor the journey He has us on, soaking up every minute of it. For He's not far. He's but a breath away. And as the old adage goes, you never know which breath will be your last.

"For we, we are not long here. Our time is but a breath. And so we'd better breathe it. And I, I was made to live. I was made to love. I was made to know You." -Brooke Fraser