How to Heal Our Racial DivideНамуна

Day 3: We over Me

Individualized faith means that one’s faith in Jesus is a personal, private matter. This view creates a “me” mentality and doesn’t challenge prejudices and racial indifference.

Color-blessed disciples understand that the gospel moves us from “What about me?” to “What about we?” We are the diverse family of God. Our siblingship and place in the body of Christ take precedence over everything. Our allegiance is to King Jesus and each other.

Regardless of your birth ethnicity, when you go through the waters of baptism, you are identifying with Jesus’ death and resurrection. This external display of the internal, eternal reality of being united to him means you are also united to believers in the underground church in China and the ancient church in Iran, to the Pentecostals in Brazil, the Anglicans in Nigeria, and believers all over the world.

Color-blessed disciples see themselves as participating in a global family. We become a community of siblings, preserving the unity that Jesus won through his sacrificial death and resurrection. Together, Black, White, Yellow, Brown—we are the blood-bought mosaic that forms the body of Christ. To not love or advocate on behalf of, seek justice for, and serve your siblings in Christ of a different ethnicity is to not love Jesus.

Many in the body of Christ resist the sanctifying, transforming work of the Spirit. The Bible calls this transformation “holiness.” Holiness means that because of “the mercies of God,” we become “a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1, CSB).

And this is a work that needs to happen in all of us. On a flight after 9/11, I saw a group of men I perceived to be Muslim because of how they looked. As my mind was filling with ignorant, fearful, dehumanizing thoughts, I sensed the Holy Spirit saying, Derwin, how do you feel when you are racially profiled? How do you feel when you are judged before people get to know you? I repented. I was wrong. Immediately, I prayed and asked for the Lord’s forgiveness. I didn’t even realize I held those beliefs until fear pushed it out of me. None of us are exempt from prejudice because none of us are wholly sanctified yet. I must renew my mind daily and seek the Spirit’s power to love people as I have been loved by Jesus. Loving people is so much better than fearing people.

We need to be honest about our racial prejudices and stereotypes. The Lord will heal what we reveal. The same blood that runs through Jesus’ veins runs through ours. We are not united by the color of our skin; we are united by the color of Jesus’ blood.