These are trying times. The racial and political divides are deep and the damage has been catastrophic. With the widespread obliteration of facts and propagation of lies, we will not see an ease to the problems of racial tensions any time soon. In fact, in a plainly political sense, the repair will be a Herculean task. It will be laughable for any Christian to think that politicizing the church will be the solution to social issues like racism.
There exists no Houdini way to solve an issue deeply seated in our souls. This racial iron curtain that exists in the human soul can only be torn by the power of the gospel. Only the gospel can cure. Therefore, should we think of weaponizing the church, our artilleries are evangelism and discipleship because like what I pointed out, only the gospel can solve social issues springing forth from sinful hearts.
It doesn’t mean though that the church should not speak up and speak against. By no means should the church relinquish its prophetic voice. But the church needs to preach, and not just speak. We need to preach against the underlying evil of any social issue more than just speaking about policies and reforms. Our voice should count, but our preaching should too.
God made distinctions. In His created order, we see in humans and nature that distinctions exist. It’s interesting to note that when it comes to humans, He first established the fact that we are all created in His own image. We are bearers of His image. Every man and woman of all ethnicity bears the image of God, and no one bears it more than the other. When He introduced what constituted His image in us, He laid down the distinctions—-it’s our maleness and femaleness. Interestingly, there was not a mention about any distinction in race. When God deals with people, He deals with us either individually or as a nation. The race Scripture recognizes is the Adamic race, and this is the very race He set out to redeem from the very beginning.
Racial distinction is a social construct, it is not a Scriptural proposition. Racism and its brood is a result of our depravity. Our penchant for the externals and our warped judgment of what beauty is, are evidences of our fallenness. Even in our nation, our regard for white or glass skin, and disdain for the opposite show our real position.
It’s true, black lives matter. Let’s preach against the veiled evil behind racism. We ought to put in high regard people of all ethnicities in every nation. It’s a complex world we live in because it is muddied by sin. Our hope is only the gospel of Christ. As we preach the gospel and make disciples, we are slowly inching our way towards our hope of true Christendom, where Biblical worldviews are shared by all sectors of the society and where the image of God in every person is valued regardless of the color of their skin.
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