By Tony Evans | YouVersion | June 21, 2020
One of the biggest challenges today, when it comes to crime, is identity theft. People will steal your identity for their own fraudulent uses. They pretend to be you and take the things that were meant for you to have. Satan is the greatest identity thief in history. He wants to rob believers of all the wonderful things that Jesus has given us. One of the ways he accomplishes this is by confusing us about our identity. This confusion is one of the reasons that racism still exists and reconciliation between races has not occurred.
We need to stake our identity in the cross of Christ, but Satan will try to get us to pick up other means of identity like race. This is why you may hear somebody refer to themselves as a black Christian, a white Christian, a hispanic Christian, or an Asian Christian. Technically, this phrasing is incorrect because “Christian” acts as the noun and gets modified by the “racial” adjective. This would mean that race modifies who we are as Christians.
However, our identity is in Christ. That is, our position in Christ makes us a Christian who happens to be black, white, hispanic or Asian. Identity is so important because who you perceive yourself to be will determine your actions. Our identity is to be in Christ first and everything else should fall underneath it. God does not ask people to deny their race or culture, but He asks that those things do not get in the way of our Christian commitment. Embrace your race. Embrace your culture. Be who you are, but never let racial identity interfere with Biblical truth.
How can you prevent your racial identity from distorting the Word of God?
All people, no matter what race, share a common origin in Adam. The book of Acts tells us that all people come from the same source. To take it a step further, when we look at the creation of mankind, we also learn that the triune Godhead created us in His image. In theology, we call this imago Dei—referring to the concept that humans are created in God’s image. An image is a mirror or a reflection. This also means that everybody, regardless of their race or ethnicity, has intrinsic value and worth. Dignity is innate. All humans are born with esteem because they are created in the image of God.
Therefore, any form of racism, elitism, discrimination, or oppression is not only a social issue, but it’s a sin issue at its core. By treating a fellow image-bearer inferior because they are of a different race is sin. And if we are going to achieve unity, the first thing we must do is speak honestly. That is, we must call any form of racism, elitism, discrimination or oppression exactly what it is—sin. God can only begin the healing and unifying process when sin is addressed. Let’s begin to treat each other as image-bearers—people made in the image of God almighty.
How does the imago Deishape the way you view other races, ethnicities and cultures?
Sunday morning is often the most segregated time of the week because we adopted a mindset of tolerance. The goal of reconciliation is not tolerance or “putting up with” another race. Unfortunately, the church remains segregated most of the time because we only gather with other races when we have to. Much of what we call racial reconciliation among Christian circles is nothing more than watered-down sociology, sprinkled with a little bit of Jesus on top so we can call it biblical. But to break down the dividing walls of race within the church, we must start with a better aim than tolerance, and that aim is biblical reconciliation.
Biblical reconciliation may be defined as addressing the sin that caused the divide for the purpose of bonding together across racial lines based on a shared commitment to Jesus Christ with the goal of service to others.
The sin we must address is racism. If we call it something other than sinful in the eyes of God, then we no longer approach this issue from a kingdom perspective. Reconciliation is all about relationships. To reconcile basically means to restore to friendship. The goal isn’t just about repenting from the sin of racism, but it’s geared towards developing authentic friendships with different races and cultures than our own. Once we repent from the sin of racism, develop relationships across racial lines, then in unity, we can serve our communities. The church is supposed to be the salt and light of our neighborhoods regardless of the racial demographic.
Which part of biblical reconciliation do you need to work on?
Study Further
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 NLT
“From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.”
Acts of the Apostles 17:26 NLT
“Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:26-27 NLT
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
1 John 1:9 NLT
“If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?”
1 John 4:20 NLT
“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NLT
““You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 5:13-16 NLT
