How to Heal Our Racial Divideنموونە

Day 2: God Promised Abraham a Family

Jesus wants to save more than our souls.

Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, is the Savior of all humanity. With love in his eyes and grace in his nail-pierced hands, he came to earth to give his Father the family he promised Abraham. This family is called the church, the body of Christ. Jesus’ passion to see his Father’s children live in unity and beauty is rooted in God’s covenant with Abraham. This is a redemptive aspect of the gospel that is often neglected: “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit” (Galatians 3:14, NIV). One of the miracles of the early church was its barrier-breaking, reconciling nature. Jesus birthed a new society, comprised of unlikely participants—Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, male and female: “In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all” (Colossians 3:11, CSB).

In Paul’s day, the message of unity between Jews and Gentiles in Abraham’s family was seen as a threat. Today, not much has changed as it relates to reconciling people of different ethnicities. If you choose to become a uniter, sone of your friends could become enemies.

You may be slandered.

You may be persecuted.

You may be called a sellout to your own race.

But, most importantly, you will be called faithful to Jesus, his gospel, and his Kingdom.

The hard, gospel work of healing the racial divide in the church and in our nation is going to cost you something personally. But whatever the cost, Jesus and his glory are worth it. Our pursuit of Jesus and his purpose to see his people unified will lead to “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and . . . difficulties, for the sake of Christ.” But this is not a bad thing, for, as Paul tells us, “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10, CSB). The apostle Paul writes, “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17, CSB). At the end of your life and mine, may we, too, bear the marks of Jesus because we lived a sacrificial life of laying down our lives to unite people in Christ.