Thoughts
from a Sinner Saved by Grace
Written
by Mark S. Simpson
The world is changing each and every day. It has greatly
disturbed me to see the progression of how this world has developed in the past
10 years in response to changes both at a spiritual and physical level. In the
midst of witnessing these changes and seeing firsthand the hate of man come out
on media, my mind wanders to the things above and what God requires for us
Christians to do in the midst of these happenings. Now before I continue, I
will point out, that I am no scholar, I am not claiming to know everything and
I am certainly not expecting nor am I wanting for people to think that I can
change anyone. That is not my job. Keep in mind that these are thoughts and
ponderings from a sinner saved by grace. I am not perfect and nor will I ever
be…praised be to God for the grace and the mercy that He pours out upon my life
on daily basis in the midst of my imperfections. I have been extremely hesitant
to post anything on Facebook, but I realize that this just my fear of judgement
holding me back from expressing the burden on my heart. And regardless of what
I post or say, people will always judge. That is just part of life.
One of the first things that I wanted to talk about is
racism. OH SHOOT!!! He said the “R” word!!! Yes I did say the word racism!!! It grieves my heart to see the
amount of racism that we experience in today’s America. To be honest with you,
it is unbiblical and it is not right. To put things more in perspective, my
mind turns to Gods Word and the response that Jesus gave to the Pharisees in
regards to Him eating with sinners. In the context of the scripture, Jesus was
seen eating with tax collectors of whom were looked down upon because of their
sleazy and unethical ways. In Luke 5:31-32 it says, “Jesus
answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor,
but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.” Notice in the verse that Jesus never said, “I have come
to call white people not black people to repentance.” Or…”I have not come to
call black people but white people to repentance.”
No…Jesus said, “I have not come to
call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance.” Guess what people?? When He
says the word “sinner” that means you and me!!! That is right…you and me!!! It
seems as though that we have taken this mindset of those who go to church, the
gospel is just for them…NO, NO, NO!!! That is so not true….the gospel is for
everyone!!! In other words the gospel is not gender or race specific!!! That is
the beauty of God’s love. To be a little bit more open with you, when I first
started working at Walmart Inc., one of my supervisors was a black man. He and
I connected in friendship not because of our skin color, but because of our
relationships with God. He literally became one my closest friends and I am
privileged to know him and to call him a brother in Christ and one of the
closest friends that I can count on my one hand. Had it not been for the
friendship that he and I have had over the past almost three years, I do not
think I would have been so challenged to be more like Christ at work.
With
that being said, here is a question for many people. Why does racism exist?
Actually no…here is a better question? What right do you have to be racist? To
take it a step further what is the reason for your racism and is there truly a
need for it to exist? While you ponder those questions….according to the Oxford
Dictionary of English their explanation of racism is as follows. Racism – The belief that all members of each
race possess characteristics, abilities or qualities specific to that race,
especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or
races.”[1]
So…do we see ourselves as such and if so…why? What is the root of racism in
today’s society? I will get to that in just a moment.
But racism in
itself, is a sin and a sin that does not glorify God in any way, shape, form or
fashion, First and foremost we have to recognize that racism is a form of sin.
Sin? How so? Well racism does not glorify God and what it does it is separates
God’s children into being quarrelsome with one another and there needs to be a
unity in the body of Christ not a separation. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-28 it
says, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many
parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all
baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave
or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even
so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Now if
the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it
would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And
if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,”
it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If
the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole
body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in
fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted
them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body
be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The
eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the
feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of
the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the
parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the
parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while
our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body
together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so
that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have
equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every
part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” So
in reality, racism does not make sense and it should not make sense if you are
a Christian. The reality is, no one is better than your fellow man. In Romans
3:23 it says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That means
that no man is better than another, for we are all sinners in need of
forgiveness and salvation through Christ Jesus. If we look at our fellow man
and think ourselves as better than he, then we are no better than the story of
the tax collector and the Pharisee that Christ talks about in Luke 18:9-14.
Racism should not exist in the life of a Christian. Christ was not partial to
skin color or race. Colossians 1:16 says, “For in him all
things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been
created through him and for him.” So when you are sitting there judging your
brother or your sister of a different race or color, your also judging the
creator and telling Him that what He created was not good enough. And who are
you to judge the Creator of all things when the very air that you breathe that
you breathe was also created by the One who created all things. If the Creator
God made my brother or sister black or white, what is that to you? Is someone
who is created Chinese or Japanese any different than those whose skin color is
different than ours? This whole thing of
“blacklivesmatter” movement that is going on in America today is a waste of
time!!! ALL lives matter…does not matter what skin color you are or aren’t.
In James 4:1-12 it
says, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights
among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not
have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You
do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and
do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
You adulterous people!! Do you not know that friendship with
the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the
world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you
suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over
the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he
gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to
the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw
near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and
purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be
wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your
joy to gloom. Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Do not speak evil
against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges
his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge
the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There
is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who
are you to judge your neighbor?” How ridiculous that we think that skin
color sets us apart and gives us more entitlement for things when in reality it
does not. Entitlement is a terrible attitude to have. Currently I am a double
amputee and will never walk in this life. I have a wheelchair that I use to get
around and a car that I drive. I’m grateful for being an amputee, I really am.
I am entitled to nothing. Because of sin, I should have nothing. But because of
Gods grace and mercy, I have two arms that work that allow me to do the things
that I do. I thank God for that every day. Entitlement is another way of us
standing in opposition to Gods Will in our own lives. For Christ gave Himself
up as a ransom for many for the reconciliation of man, yet we get looked at in
a wrong way and we want to sue someone. When will it stop? Unfortunately, as
long as there is in in this world it never will.
In
Ephesians 4:1-3 it says, “I therefore, a prisoner for
the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have
been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” What we have, we were not given by our own hands. But what we have
is because God gave us the gifts and talents to complete the work that He has
put us here to do. So what are we entitled to? Nothing…absolutely nothing. What
we have could be taken away from us in a heartbeat. It does not do us any good
to go about doing things that are out of character because we feel entitled to
something. If anyone should feel as if they were entitled to anything, it would
be Christ. He did not have to come to earth to die for us. In fact, He left His
home from up above, because of His love for mankind. We did not ask Him too, He
did so to reconcile man to Himself through death. So in reality, entitlement does not make sense
for a Christian for we know that what we have is because of God’s grace towards
us and nothing more. We are humans and with that title comes the harsh reality
that we are not promised tomorrow, so why live in a spirit that causes strife?
Why live with a mindset of entitlement? We are not promised anything in this
life, yet we are given a gift of life through Christ our Lord of whom
sacrificed all that He had for us. With this in mind, I urge my fellow
believers that do things that glorify the Lord.
Furthermore there is another thing I would
like to address that has come up recently. The concept of the word “freedom.” Freedom,
we all love it. We all want it…some of us will die for it. However, recently we
have seemed to adopt this concept of the word “free” a little too much. As per
a reality check….guess what!?? Nothing is free!!! Nope…you may think it is free…but
nothing is free. Let me explain. That commercial that you hear on the radio
that advertises something for free to get your attention…someone had to pay for
the air time, the product and the advertising for whatever they are giving to
you for free. While it may not cost you anything to receive the product, it is
costing someone else something so that you can enjoy the satisfaction of that
free item. So lets talk about freedom on bigger scale…the freedom we have in
America. We may have the freedom to worship, freedom of the press, freedom of
speech, freedom of religion and the freedom of assembly. But what did those
freedoms come with…a cost. Yes a cost. Everything has a cost?? Yes everything
has a cost to it and that includes freedom. Freedom is not free. Not by a long
shot. Freedom is what we are given as a result of someone else’ sacrifice. But
I can only speculate that we do not think that deeply into the idea of freedom
because we are in a country where do not fear the government’s crackdown of
religion or freedom of speech or freedom of assembly. Yet, as the world continues
to spin, I can see where those freedoms are slowly fading away. Everyone does
what is right in his or her own eyes with no regard to divine or moral
righteousness. It heartbreaking to see, that our men and women sacrifice time with
their families, work and even their own lives for what??? For us to have the
freedom to riot in the streets over something that we most likely do not
understand? Is it right that our men and women sacrifice their lives for us to
forsake the foundation of what this country was founded upon? Is it right that
they sacrifice themselves for us to murder each other out of anger and hatred?
Is it right that they sacrifice themselves so that we can hate our brother because
of skin color or race? Is it right!!?? Think about it…what are our men and
women fighting for and is what they are fighting worth it? We have not made it
so here recently. For the men and women who are in the military who read this,
do not give up your fight. There are a few of us over here that honor and
respect your sacrifice, for that we do not take that for granite. Thank you for
your sacrifice. I know that “thank you” cannot make up the time lost with
family but your fight means the world to those who still honor the sacrifice
that you have given.
Freedom
comes with such a sacrifice. Yet the greatest sacrifice that was ever given was
the shedding of Christ’ blood on a cross for the redemption of mankind. Some of
you will read that and shake your head in disgust thinking “oh boy, here he
goes with his Jesus stuff again.” You may not listen to what I have to say, but
I pray that God does everything in His power for you to see how amazing our God
really is. You see Christ left glory and came down to earth as a babe. (John
6:38) Forsaking all that He had in the realms of heaven, the glory, the
righteousness and the perfection of God Almighty Himself. He was born in a
manger, wrapped in strips of linen instead of a palace. The King of kings and
the Lord of lords was born in a cattle trough, the most humble way of entering
into this earth. He did not come with a fan fare, yet after His birth the
angels in Heaven heralded His coming and gave glory to God. (Luke 2) He
grew as each one of us would grow. Learning how to walking, rollover, stubbing
his toe, getting a cut on his finger. He experienced it all. When He was only
thirty years old, He began His earthly ministry beginning with His baptism and
temptation in the wilderness. (Mathew 3:13-17, Matthew 4:1-11) Furthermore, He
gathered together twelve mem of whom He called disciples and for three years he
healed the sick, the lame and the blind. At the age of thirty three, Christ turned
His eyes towards the cross of Calvary. After enduring torture at the hands of
romans soldiers and being beaten to the point of almost being unrecognizability,
He willingly laid Himself down and allowed the very humans that He loved to
drive nails into His hands and into His feet. He then hung on a cross,
suffering from blood loss and pain thinking the entire time of you and me. And
there He died. Yes He died. But praise God the story does not end there. After
three days, He rose again defeating Hell, death and the grave. To provide you
and I what we could provide for ourselves…eternal life through Him.
So when we look at
the grand scheme of things, what exactly are we doing with our lives? Are just
moving unconsciously through day to day with no regards to where we are going?
Are we just going to church to hear a good sermon and just to go out and not
change anything? Are we living life with a reason or are we just going through
the motions? For those who are in Christ, do not give up who Christ is in your
life for the sake of a job, for the sake of not being counted as the weird one
in the group or even for the sake popularity. Christ was not popular, He did
things in accordance with His Fathers will even when it meant suffering
persecution. He was already counted as strange because of His message.
I know that
throughout this whole thing you have probably been wondering about what the
point in all of this. Well, the point is when you really get down to the root
issues of racism, entitlement, freedom and the scriptures there is a vast contrast
between them. The question that I have for you is why racism, entitlement and
freedom? Are we really entitled to all three? In this world that we live in,
things are starting to go out of hand. So what does mean for the Christian? For
us it means to stand fast in the truth of Gods Word. When the world looks at us
and forsakes God’s Word, it is not up to us to look at them and judge. It is
our job to continue the Great Commission regardless of what the world says or
does to us to prevent us from completing the mission.
In John 15:18-25
it says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me
first. If you belonged to the
world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is
not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you
also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will
treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If
I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now
they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If
I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty
of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.
But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without
reason.’ Christ is going us a warning here that the world will hate us because of
who we are. For the world is still engulfed in sin. And where righteous tries
to dwell, sin will do its best to rear its ugly head. But when we stand on God’s
Word and believe that His promises are true, we have little to fear from the world
and everything to gain through Heavens eyes. (selah)
Bibliography
Oxford Dictionary of
English. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press,
©2010.
