Every thing about us matters in one way or another. Your height, skin color, nationality, ethnicity, language, gender, skills, and yes even age have a distinct and unique purpose. What, exactly that purpose is, of course, is an entire lesson in and of itself. While some things in our lives happen due to our sin nature and the consequence of disobeying God, there are a few things that often get overlooked in spiritual circles. More than ever before people are in search of their identity. Questions like who am I, where do I belong in this world, and what is my calling/purpose, are plaguing our generation like never before. When it comes to deliverance, love, and faith, we talk about such things as alcoholism, addiction, sex, drugs, etc. but the issue of race often stays surface level. It is both a delicate and complex topic with an endless amount of angles from which to be approached. In our world it has become perfectly normal to have completely “homogenous” (or at least what seems to be… from the outside) inner circles. Our cell phone, Facebook, and Twitter networks/contacts generally are filled with people that look and talk just like us. If we are a young African American male then on many occasions the contacts in our cell phone are other young African Americans with similar tastes. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not pointing my finger out of spite, or anger, I simply want to point something out. Also, before I get into the meat of this post I do want to point out and state that I do believe due to an amazing evolution of sorts that many of the races across the world including black and white are much more dynamic, intricate, and complex than the mere circle black, white, asian, hispanic, latino, etc. bubble that gets checked off on a medical or job application. That being said…
If everyone in our inner circle look just us…that may be a problem. You may ask why this even matters? Well, if we are to be a people of change, a people of purpose and destiny, then there are three types of people we should have in our lives. These three people are peers, protoges, and patriarchs/matriarchs. Although this brings a more complete balance in our life how can we honestly say that we are successful in doing such if all three of these look the same, talk the same, sound the same, etc. Now I am not talking about whether or not they are of like precious faith. Those of us that live in such a country as America, where there is a great abundance of different cultures can not settle with keeping our inner circle limited to people that look just like us. Think about it, even in rural areas of America you can find a Mexican or Chinese restaurant. If you are not Chinese or Mexican and the people in that particular eating establishment are aren’t they still deserving of the gifts you have in your heart. It is amazing how we can drive past so many buildings of hurting people and never minister to them because they don’t look like us. Sometimes we just don’t think about it. Other times we may minister to them but be afraid to invite them to our church because they will be an extreme minority there. That does not make it right. What about those job buddies we have. Many of us work in an environment full of racial diversity but why is it many of them do not find there way on our facebook “friends list”? Our culture teaches us that this is ok. We have become perfectly comfortable with consistently organizing events that are racially homogenous when there are many who if given the chance would bless us the same.
Let’s continue the discussion of the identity issue. Many people of certain races around the world due to the atrocities that took place in history have been robbed of their identity, and made to be felt as though they are not unique, exotic, or special. My goal and desire everyday of my life is to be able to see people for the treasure that they are. On the surface level I think it is a beautiful thing to be able to look at each other and admire our blond hair, dark skin, freckles, slanted eyes, curly hair, etc….it is all beautiful. Think about it, you didn’t choose how you would look. You had no power over that. Martin Luther King’s dream was not so much about a black man being able to be elected president (that is the result of the heart of the matter)so much as it was about us making decisions based on each other’s destiny. Can we truly justify voting for someone if it was only because of their race and not the content of their character? Is it the right thing to support a business solely on their racial makeup and not the content of their character (of course I do understand there comes times when we can make a decision to financially uplift a particular demographic or ethnicity. The main point is that it is done justifiably so in order to uplift everyone and not just one.) ? Why is it that so many times we will not sing a song in our churches until someone who is popular and our same “race” or “genre” sings it. Allow me to be really clear with this point. Often a Chris Tomlin or Matt Redman song will not be heard in circles that listen to contemporary Gospel until a Donnie Mclurkin or William McDowell sings it or vice versa. If it is good now, wasn’t it good then? If it blesses us now, would it not have blessed us then? Perhaps we were robbed or missed out on many blessings because of this missed opportunity. I do not have anything against these great men of God and obviously they enjoy listening to different stuff as well and would probably tell you the same. The problem arises when we allow the radio stations we listen to and friends become our sole standard in what we allow ourselves to be exposed to. I am not hating on anyone or upset either because I was once there. I did the very same thing. I did it unknowingly, but the fact of the matter is I still did it. Allow me to interject another point here, not all predominantly Black churches are so called “charismatic”, and not all predominantly White churches are “laid back”. This is a lie we have passed down from generation to generation and been made to believe that it is true. Trust me I have been to some pretty “hoppin” churches where there were few Blacka, and some pretty “laid back” predominantly Black churches. Besides, what does it matter as long as they are doing what God called them to do( this is a broad topic so I am not using it to justify or indict any particular church or person, but rather only to make a point).
So what is the big deal you may ask? Well I recall a situation years ago when a cousin of mine introduced me to Sonic Flood. I was not necessarily feeling it at first but I was open to it. It was strange that I would not be initially into it because I did grow up in a Bi-racial home and came up listening to all sorts of genre’s but nevertheless I was skeptical. Shortly after listening to the CD it really began to grow on me and later became on of the largest impacts upon my life. My point is this, my family has been tremendously blessed due to the impartation from many people, places, and things that did not look like what I was used to at the time. I could go on and on about this subject but hey, that is why this is a series…
There is nothing wrong with being proud of your race, or nationality. In fact, I believe we should be, for even the Apostle Paul was proud of being both a Jew, Greek, and being born a Roman Citizen. God himself formed a nation of people called the Jews through Abraham so that they could bring the message of the Messiah. I am very proud of my Latino and African American heritage myself. In all things however we must have balance. How many CD’s have you written off because it doesn’t sound like what you are used too or the person on the cover doesn’t look like you? You do not have to like everything, but as Christians we must learn how to appreciate all of God’s creation especially His son’s and daughters. I want to be able to look upon all men and women and be available to embrace them as my brother’s and sister’s…both lost and found…
William
