Wilderness Wonderings

Wilderness Wonderings

mercy

The Judgement of the Kingdom

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Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:1-6)

There is a fine line between judgement and accountability, and it is predicated by a carefully cultivated relationship and personal responsibility. More often than not, when we seek to correct the behavior of another, we can be met with resistance. However, this resistance is mostly due to one thing: you have not cultivated the relationship necessary to develop a safe environment for accountability. In which case, attempts at holding another accountable will be seen as an attitude of judgement. This is why is vitally important that we have a sense of discernment about ourselves and the relationship we have with others before we seek to be an agent of correction and discipline.

All too often, anyone who feels judged will quote the first verse and leave out the remainder of the verse in an effort to avoid the feelings of correction. The remainder of this passage does not say that we should not hold each other accountable for our sins. However, it does explain that we should exercise self-awareness and discernment before we seek to correct our brothers and sisters. Ensure that your own heart is in the right and that your relationship with that person is in a place that is going to be receptive to the corrective accountability first. If you act of self-righteous indignation, then you will very likely not witness the repentance that is intended. Otherwise, hypocrisy is creeping at the door of your own heart.

On the other hand, we are indeed called to hold one another accountable within the Kingdom for our behavior. James put it this way: “My brothers, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19) Notice here that James is leveraging the relationship of brotherhood in the course of accountability.

There are numerous times throughout Scripture that Jesus speaks to holding one another accountable within the Kingdom. But in every case, he encourages self-discernment and leveraging the interpersonal relationship you have with the other. If you do not have a relationship with someone that you are seeking to discipline, how can you expect them to heed your warnings? You wouldn’t go about disciplining an unruly child you didn’t know or have a relationship with, would you? Of course not! You’d seek out the parent of that child and describe the situation and allow them to exercise the responsibility of discipline because they have the relationship with the child that is more likely to produce repentance.

In the same way, Jesus admonishes us not to pass judgement upon those who are outside of the Kingdom when He says “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” In this passage, “dogs” and “swine” are referring to wild packs of animals – wild dogs and wild boars that would roam the countryside seeking to devour everything in their path – scavengers. At first glance, and when taken out of context, it seems like Jesus is being rude here, but you have to consider His audience.

Wild dogs are known to be destructive and untamable, often traveling nocturnally in packs together wreaking havoc on weaker animals and consuming the trash and leftovers of the stronger predators. In fact, it was recently reported that jackals were stating to take over parks in Tel Aviv, Israel at night due to lockdowns form the coronoavirus pandemic. These packs of wild dogs are not only dangerous to human populations, but are highly territorial and aggressive with one another in their fight for survival. Wild pigs were considered ritually unclean in Jewish society, but also would travel in packs or hordes. In both cases, if you approach these packs alone and try to scare them off or get them to stop their destruction, the entire pack is likely to turn on you, ignore your commands, and attack you instead. Is it any surprise that the same thing happens when we followers of Christ try to correct or discipline those who live outside of the Kingdom?

As Paul once wrote, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25) The commandments of God were written for His people. The Scriptures give us a guide to live by and a standard to hold one another to. However, non-believers who live outside of the Kingdom are not likely to bow to the dictates of Scripture. They live by a different standard – typically the standard of their own humanism that elevates their own self-interest above the interests of God’s Kingdom.

As a nation, the United States is not bound to enforce its internal laws on the citizens of other countries when they are not within our borders. However, when citizens of other nations enter our borders, they are expected to abide by our laws and customs as a matter of mutual respect. The same is true for American citizen traveling abroad. And when mutually incompatible legislation exists between two countries, more often than not it is the country of citizenship that takes precedence on account of ignorance.

And the same is true of the Kingdom of God. And that is not to say that we should not seek to influence the world around us. If we expect to exact social change in our society, we must first seek to bring change to the hearts of individuals. Human behavior is an outgrowth of the condition of individual hearts. Behavior will only change when hearts change. And we can only impact the hearts of others when our behavior reflects the Kingdom heart of our Father and King. And that takes a carefully cultivated relationship that facilitates an openness of communication that will allow the seed of truth to be planted that will bring forth the fruit of repentance.

The Petition of the Kingdom

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The Petition of the Kingdom

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Pray, then, in this way:

‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”’

Matthew 6:9-13

Have you ever had someone repeatedly making the same demands of you to the point that suddenly feel like you are trapped in a scene of Groundhog Day? A common practice among the pagan Romans of the day was to repeat the same ritualistic phrases over and over again in a form of magical incantation, meant to manipulate the gods into doing the will of the pray-er. Subtly, the Jewish leadership began to model this same practice by repeating the Scriptural prayers of old so much so that they began to lose the heart of their prayers and turned prayer into another form of incantation in order to manipulate God into doing their will. In fact, there are some elements within the modern church today that still practice this concept, and have taken the Lord’s prayer and turned it into this same ritualistic practice, instead of recognizing the context of what Jesus was saying in order to inspire the people to approach prayer as a time of intimate conversation with their Creator.

When Jesus says “Pray, then, in this way”, He was not saying to only pray with these words. Rather, the phrase “in this way” is more appropriately translated “in this pattern.” There have been a number of different acronyms and illustrations of how to pattern your prayers after the model that Jesus presented here, so I will not go into those. But I will give you some highlights in the hopes of guiding you through how prayer touches the heart of God.

First, we begin with the intimate acknowledgement of our relationship to Him. He is our Abba. Our spiritual daddy. The head of our household. The Father who guides, teaches, and disciplines because of His great love for His children. And even though He may not be physically present with us, His spiritual presence is always with us.

Secondly, the acknowledgement of our relationship to Him inevitably inspires an acknowledgement of His holiness. When we humbly approach the throne of grace, recognizing He is the only Holy and righteous God, we are forced to recognize that we are wretched in comparison to His surpassing greatness. He is the King of Glory and we must be dependent upon His mercy.

Which brings us to His Kingdom. He is not only our Father, He is also our King. He is our lawgiver and we are citizens of His kingdom, adopted into His family and naturalized into His realm. As such we are now beholden to His word and submitted to His Lordship in our lives. As a result our priority is to shift to His will in our lives, not our own.

Next we transition to our petition for our daily need. Our manna, the bread of heaven. That which gives us nourishment and strength for the challenges of the day. As Jeremiah lamented over the pending destruction of Israel, he uttered the familiar encouragement:

“The Lord’s lovingkindness [mercies] indeed never cease,
for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

From here, as we bask in the glory of His grace and mercy, we are then inspired to confession. As the apostle John wrote “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10) John writes these words not to the unbelievers of his day, but to the church – the believers who claim the name of God. When we walk in the Light of His truth, we can quickly see that we are indeed sinners in need of mercy. And when we confess our sinful nature and our specific sinful acts, He is faithful to forgive and righteous in His cleansing. Only the righteousness of God can cleanse our own unrighteousness by the power of the Blood of His Son.

This transitions us into repentance. A heart that is forgiven is one that seeks to remain in the mercies of God. And this requires continual repentance and submission of our sinful will to the righteous will of God. It’s not enough to confess our sin and depend upon His mercy. If our confession does not result in repentance, it is a faithless confession and our words ring hollow when presented from a heart of stone.

Ultimately, our prayers must be reflective and submitted to the will of God. For the Kingdom is His. The power is His. The glory is His. None of it belongs to us. We have no right to make demands of our God, but He joyfully wishes to bless His children who are submitted to the will of His Kingdom.

The great mystery of grace is not that we can approach the throne of the King and bring our demands, but rather that we can “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) We can approach His throne confident in knowing that when we come before Him with humility and brokenness of heart, He is faithful to place His hand upon our head and heart and give us His full approval.

The Mercy of the Kingdom

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“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Matthew 5:7

Mercy and grace are two sides of the same coin. We have often defined mercy as “not receiving the judgement that we deserve” and grace as “receiving a blessing that we do not deserve.” In both cases, the definition of mercy and grace imply that they are not something that is deserved or can be earned. In fact, with both, we deserve the opposite of what we receive. We tend to sum up these two words with another word that shares a similar meaning: forgiveness.

But what is forgiveness? Forgiveness is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and misused words in the English language. We often say that we “forgive” someone but we continue to harbor bitterness towards the offender in our hearts. Is that really forgiveness? Does forgiveness require demonstrative, sincere confession and contrition in order to be granted? Does forgiveness imply meritorious reward for for humble repentance? Or does forgiveness inspire confession, contrition, and repentance?

If you look closely at the word, the center of the word is another word that is the root of the entire meaning of it: give. At its root forgiveness implies an act of giving of oneself to another. In fact, in the New Testament the Greek word “aphesis” that is translated as “forgiveness” is an active word that means to release as a jailer would release a prisoner. Additionally, there is a secondary definition that means “to cause to stand away”. In simpler legal terms, it is the separating of a criminal from their crime, and no longer counting it against them. The offense is no longer on the record.

Let’s be perfectly clear. Forgiveness does not ignore that an offense has occurred. In fact, by definition it must acknowledge that an offense exists that is worthy of punishment or restitution. However, forgiveness is the act of taking that punishment on themselves and considering the debt paid in full. In terms of accounting, it is the act of paying for the debt owed to you out of your own funds.

I’ve often asked this question and it is rare that I get an honest, self-examined answer: “Is it more important to be right or in a right relationship?” The obvious answer would be “to be in a right relationship.” But do we really believe that if we continue to harbor resentment towards someone who wronged us? Have we really mended the relationship? Or are we just easing our own conscience with false humility and buried pride? It’s one thing to throw away your pride and forgive someone; it’s quite another to bury your pride and shake hands while holding on and nursing a grudge waiting for the next offense to rear its head. It’s the proverbial hatchet – buried with the handle sticking out ready to be surfaced to cut the offender back down to size.

Jesus put it quite simply like this: the greatest commandment is to love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, body, and spirit AND (not “BUT”) the second is like it – love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-40) Jesus literally equated our love for God with our love for each other. If we truly love our neighbor, forgiveness should come quickly. In fact, if you are a Christ follower, knowing the price that God paid to forgive you of your sin, you forfeited all rights to have an unforgiving spirit towards anyone.

When I look upon the landscape of our country today, it breaks my heart to see a spirit of unforgiveness blanketing our land. It has manifested itself in political divisiveness and violence from every corner. What is the most disheartening is when I see self-proclaimed Christ followers DEMANDING restitution for offenses perpetrated against them. I see Christians who speak with bitterness in their words. I’ve seen believers go decades without speaking to one another because of simple or even complex disagreements all because they are more concerned with being right about their side of the argument than being in a right, restored relationship with one another.

Forgiveness is the most precious act of love that anyone can give. It does not require restitution because then it becomes something earned by the offender, rather than something given by the giver. Forgiveness releases the shackles of payment from the offender, but it also releases the forgiver from the chains of bitterness and resentment. Don’t get me wrong – forgiveness doesn’t come easy. It’s not easy to let go of the hurt and the pain, especially when we have become so accustomed to it that it just seems natural and to release that pain means to venture into uncharted territory of emotional vulnerability. In its fullest context, this is the greatest blessing that extends beyond material giving and the fullest meaning of Jesus’ words when He said “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

The Flip Side of the Coin

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“Therefore, when the Lord heard, He was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
His anger rose against Israel,
Because they did not believe in God
and did not trust His saving power.
Yet He commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
And He rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
Man ate of the bread of the angels;
He sent them food in abundance.
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by His power He led out the south wind;
He rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
And they ate and were well filled,
for He gave them what they craved.
But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
The anger of God rose against them,
and He killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.”
(Psalm 78:21-31)

I can count on one hand the number of sermons in my 30 years as a believer, and 40 years as a regular church attendee, where Psalm 78 was the central focus. Taken at face value, it is a difficult Psalm to process. However, once you get to the heart of the matter and examine the context of each verse you realize very quickly why. It’s not a Psalm that is full of “feel good” theology. It is not a Psalm that is filled with images of soft meadows and flowing streams and dancing children. It is not a Psalm that is intended to fill you with peace, but rather to spur you to holiness.

This Psalm paints a picture of remembrance of the juxtaposition of judgement and mercy. It is a Psalm that fluctuates between God’s great love for His people and His great wrath at their rebellion and ingratitude. It is a Psalm that warns of the dangers of self-sufficiency and urges us to trust the all-sufficiency of His grace. How often do we find ourselves gorging our spiritual bellies on the blessings of God, and then pushing away from the table of grace to run with the world? How often do you find yourself dolling yourself up for Sunday worship only to find yourself rolling in the prodigal’s pigpen on Monday morning? How often do I find myself celebrating my own successes and minimizing my failures on Friday and then falling on my face in false humility of worship on Sunday morning?

Over and over again Israel has taken God’s grace for granted. Undeserving and having earned nothing to warrant God’s favor, He freed them from the slavery of Egypt out of faithfulness to His word to His servant Abraham. As they traveled across a barren wilderness for forty years, he provided rain, daily manna in abundance, eastern winds to cool the day and southern winds to cool the nights. He provided them daily meat in the form of quail as numerous as the grains of sand on the beach. Mind you that quail was not native to the wilderness of Sinai. Yet all the while as they enjoyed the fruits of His grace, they grumbled and complained and expected more. And their ingratitude was their downfall. Their pride was their own destruction. And God’s judgement and holiness came to bear.

We cannot experience the fullness of God’s mercy and grace without recognizing the truth of His holiness and judgement. Mercy, by definition, implies that we deserve a fate far worse than we receive. Grace, by definition, implies we have done nothing to deserve the blessings we do receive. Our sin demands judgement. His holiness demands repentance. The holiness is the flip side of the coin of grace. Judgement is the flip side of the coin of mercy. There is a price to be paid for our sin, and He pays it on our behalf. We cry out for the shekels of our own self-reliance, and then we trample on His shekinah glory, turning our heads and hearts back to the shackles of Egypt that separates us from His eternal promises.

The late Rev. R. C. Sproul was once asked why the punishment of Adam was so severe. And His response was shockingly honest and was met with laughter as if he was joking, but he sternly retorted and corrected the audience in attendance:

This creature from the dirt defied the everlasting, holy God after God has said ‘The day that you shall eat of it, you shall surely die.’ And instead of dying…that day, he lived another day and was clothed in his nakedness by pure grace and had the consequences of a curse supplied for quite some time. But the worse curse would come upon the one who seduced him, whose head would be crushed by the seed of the woman. And the punishment was too severe?! What’s wrong with you people?!

– R.C. Sproul (c 2014)

We must remember who God is. We must remember His holiness. When we truly and humbly confront Him and recognize Him for who He is, we are exposed and recognize who we really are. When we truly recognize His holiness, we can do nothing but fall our face before Him exposed. His holiness exposes our sin. His grace covers our sin. His holiness demands judgement. His mercy takes His judgement upon Himself. We must learn to confront the holiness of God on a daily basis instead of just once in a long while. Until we do, we will never recognize our rightful place at the feet of His throne. Until we do, we will never full appreciate the fullness of His grace.

The Provision of History and Sufficiency of Grace

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“Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
They spoke against God, saying,
‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?’
Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
Because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.” (Psalm 78:17-22)

Have you ever felt taken for granted or taken advantage of? Have you ever felt like your only purpose in life is to be everyone else’s wishing genie? Do you ever find yourself treating others as if they are nothing more than your provider? Do you find yourself in your prayer time treating God the same way, daily bringing Him your list of demands…uh…requests and little more?

Following the escape from Egypt, God has continually demonstrated His faithfulness and provision to His people. He divided the waters of the Red Sea to allow safe passage on dry land. He guided them with a cloud by day and a pillar fire by night as they trekked across the wilderness. He provided fresh, potable water from dry rock, manna for daily bread, and quail for fresh meat. All of these in an area known for its barren, lifeless existence. And yet, it wasn’t enough to endear the people’s hearts to Him.

God’s provisions for us are always for our good, but His provisions are always for His Kingdom purposes. His provisions for Israel, in spite of their rebellious hearts was for the purpose of sustaining them for the journey ahead across the wilderness of Sin to the Promised Land in keeping with His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But every time God provided, it was just enough for the day and just enough to keep them satisfied until the turned their eyes inwards upon themselves instead of looking forward to their destination.

As long as you keep your eyes upon your own desires and your own needs instead of looking forward to God’s Kingdom needs and His purposes, you will never experience the satisfaction of God’s sufficiency in His grace. As long as we treat Him like He is our slave to order about and give us what we feel we want and need in the moment, we will never appreciate His sovereignty and mercy. God owes you nothing. In fact, we deserve full separation from Him because of our sin. However, because of His great love for us, He chooses to love us more than He hates our sin. He chose to pay the price for our sins in order to redeem us from the grave and eternal punishment that we so richly deserve.

And when we treat His grace and His favor with such disdain and take Him for granted, sooner or later that provision will dry up. Sooner or later, His wrath will be poured out in discipline in an effort to draw you into the relationship that He has longed for all this time. When we take His grace for granted, we are saying that we do not believe His word to be sufficient and that His wisdom in not enough to save us. So we tend to bring Him our list of demands that would appease our own selfish conscience because we trust more in our own wisdom than in His word and His saving power.

Humility is the key because when we humble ourselves before our sovereign God, we recognize our place and magnify His. We take ourselves off the throne and recognize that only He has the right to sit upon it. Too often we act like God has us sitting on His throne to keep it warm for Him, when in fact He never leaves it. He is always on His throne and in His holy temple with the whole train of His robe filling the temple with His holiness.

Holiness in us is the power of the Holy Spirit reminding us of who He is and who we are in relation to Him. We would do good to remember that He is the giver and taker of all life. The only thing in Scripture that we are ever called to fear is the Lord and His wrath. And when does His wrath burn the most? When His people misuse, abuse, twist, and manipulate His word for their own twisted purposes in order to take advantage of others and to try to take advantage of Him.

We must view Scripture through the lens of humility, trusting His word to be sufficient to meet our every need. We must examine His word in light of His wisdom rather than our own. As His children, we must learn to trust His provision to be sufficient to meet our needs for His Kingdom purposes to His glory rather than our own. Once we then recognize His sufficiency to provide through the power of His word, then we recognize that He is our sufficiency to look forward to the Promised Land of grace eternal.

Killing the Hostility

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“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” (Ephesians 2:13-16)

Growing up in the deep South, I am no stranger to the evils of racism. I’ve seen it perpetrated upon others. I’ve experienced racially motivated hatred towards myself from members of other races. All of it born out of a spirit of distrust between us all, in spite of personal best efforts to demonstrate an attitude contrary to the prevailing culture of the time. As a result, it perpetuated a continuous cycle of hate upon hate and hostility repaid with hostility.

I still remember the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election. It was my first opportunity to actually vote in a governor’s race. The options were between a known felon with connections to the mob who was later convicted of RICO charges and a former Grand Wizard of the KKK. Evil versus evil. And thus was my first introduction to the phrase “the lesser of two evils” as it pertains to politics.

I can recount innumerable times throughout my childhood, adolescence, and young adult life in Louisiana where race politics were not only expected, they were the norm. I have not followed Louisiana politics nearly as closely since 1996 because that is when I left the state for Texas, only returning briefly for 2 years to finish my undergraduate degree. At one time, I even entertained the fainting notion of running for public office due to my own youthful idealism only to realize that I would not have been able to stomach the perpetually spewing hatred from both sides of the aisle. Nor would I have been able to bring myself to do what was necessary in the realm of Louisiana politics to win a seat at the governing table.

Looking back over the years, there are a handful of people from my Louisiana days that I would have easily counted as friends who were of a different race than myself. From elementary school through high school, one such friend was Toni “Tee” Banks. She was and is still today a bright, intelligent, and supremely insightful young woman. I can recall some of the most challenging and educational moments of my academic life were conversations she and I would share back then. I can honestly say then and now that she was my friend.

In college, for one year I was a member of the intercollegiate debate team. My debate partner, Edwin Robinson, became one of my best friends in the world and that relationship still holds true today. I know now, as I did then, that if I ever needed anything in this world, even though we are hundred of miles apart, he would move Heaven and Earth to be there for me. And the fact that our different skin colors wouldn’t make a difference because it was our mutual love for one another and our love for Almighty God that binds our friendship for eternity.

In 1997, while I was in the midst of my own wilderness wandering period, abandoning my faith, I was befriended by a young Hispanic Lutheran ministry student named Mark Aponte. One day on my way to my bus, he picked me up and dropped me off at the stop and he asked me if I had a place to worship that evening. I politely brushed it off, but he firmly and lovingly reminded me of God’s command to not neglect the assembling together. To this day, I count him as one of my dear friends because he was one of several people in that one week that prodded me back into the family of faith.

Today, there are many colleagues that I work with of different races across the board. All of them, I carry with me the utmost respect and admiration for the integrity they bring to their jobs and their passion for the people that they work with is unmatched. One such friend is Michael Clayton. Last year he was diagnosed with cancer and my heart broke for him. As he chronicled his fight with cancer and I watched him and got to know more about him, I grew to admire and respect him even more. He is my friend and he is a survivor as he was recently declared to be in remission from his cancer. But what I appreciate the most is his love for his Lord Jesus that binds us together in brotherhood.

Last year, a dear sister who was one of my wife’s best friends for over 20 years, Brenda Gloria, from San Antonio went on to be with the Lord. Her uncompromising, but merciful and gracious spirit still resonates with my own. Her brother, Pastor Roland Gloria of Hard Rock Church in San Antonio, is a friend who I have the utmost admiration and respect for as his spirit and dedication to our Lord continue to be an inspiration for his congregation – a direct result of Brenda’s influence on his life. This loving Hispanic family will always be in my heart because of the direct impact that Brenda had in my life.

I attend worship at Great Hills Baptist Church here in Austin, TX. Our pastor often points out that we are a mutli-ethnic, multi-national, multi-generational body of believers. My Connect Group (Sunday School, Bible Study class) is made up of a wide variety of believers from around the world. Our teacher, Velu Kadirvel, who I count among my dear friends and as a mentor, hails from the Tamil region of India. Velu is one of the most intelligent and kind-hearted men that I know. His heart for God’s Kingdom and for seeing people know Jesus fuels his spirit with kindness and grace. There have been many times that I have needed that grace, and he has been loving enough to be there to provide arms of comfort, shed tears of grief, and cheer with me in my victories.

The common thread among all of these dear friends that allowed us look beyond our racial differences is our mutual understanding of the grace of Almighty God and our mutual understanding that we are all His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He has prepared beforehand that we might walk in them. We have a clear understanding of our value as children of our Creator and that we have a responsibility to steward that relationship for the sake of His kingdom because it is the good work that God has called us all to in Christ Jesus. It is the blood of Christ that allows us to stand together in unity because that is what has broken down the wall of hostility that society tries to put up between us.

It takes more than words and pithy sayings to break down the walls between us. There are centuries of humanistic logic that has built up these walls by elevating pride and ethnicity over humility and humanity. It takes a supernatural vision of faith, hope, and love that fuels kindness, mercy, and grace to tear down those walls and see each other for the fearfully and wonderfully made creations that God has made us to be. We can issues all the shallow, obligatory political statements in the world, but they are nothing but empty words unless they are backed up by a vision that sees people for who God created them to be. All the empty gestures in the world that do nothing but call attention to how good we want people to see us are meaningless, until we back it up with action that transcends our superficial differences and gets to the heart of the matter and reconciles one another in relationships that reflect the Divine Abba Father’s love for us.

Say what you will about the times as they are, but until you are willing to cross the street and help the downtrodden and create a relationship that means something, keep your mouth shut. We can all say what we think, but we all live what we believe in our hearts. And it’s high time our hearts undergo a transformation that only His grace can provide.

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