By now most of the world has heard about Micah Johnson, a 25-year-old Army veteran who shot and killed 5 Dallas policemen and wounded several others. While reflecting on the incident and watching the press emote over the event, I turned to Scripture for an answer. But not just any answer … I wanted the answer. Of course, I knew and have always taught that Christ is the answer; however, I questioned whether he alone was sufficient. Well, of course, the truth is yes and no. He is the answer in so far as we allow him to be; but herein lies the crux of the matter: in all honesty we seldom do. We would rather fix the problem ourselves.
Our solution is generally a call for more highly trained police, and/or more economic and social equality and less inflammatory rhetoric or something along those lines. Seldom do we see ourselves as the culprit.
Now, keep in mind I am a white man and I know what white people say by-in-large in private.
Far too often the illegal alien Latino is labeled as just another wetback, and budding criminal if not one already. The same brush is used to paint the welfare mom, or an unemployed black man as just another example of a drag on our society. Ignoring the truth that not all welfare moms are out to scam the system, or that all unemployed are blacks lazy. Sadly, when we choose such labels, the love meter slowly begins to tilt towards either indifference or a seething prejudice which in turns leads to bitterness or in some cases violence.
The truth of the matter is that on some level we have all been guilty of generically labeling some a misfits and drags on society simply because they do not fit into our perfect picture of how things should be. Make no doubt about it, there are criminals and lazy bums, as well as the garden variety of misfits, but to treat them differently than God treats them is grossly sinful.
Micah Johnson and Dallas Police Chief David Brown are a case in point. Ironically both men are black. Obviously, both have seen the world though different lenses. Johnson’s view was filtered through hatred; whereas, Chief Brown chose to filter his through love and service. Now keep these two in focus and let us man up and admit that far too often we have been guilty of throwing all blacks into the same basket along with ‘wetbacks’ the gays and lesbians or the transgender, or the bourka dressed Muslim next door, and perhaps for good measure those annoying Jehovah Witnesses that just rang our door bell, or what have you. This is true, whether we admit it or not.
We as Christians must never allow ourselves to be tainted with the rhetoric of hate or embrace an attitude of disgust simply because we cannot see past the color of one’s skin or their country of origin or, for that matter, their religion. Ours’s is not to judge but to love. Only God is capable of both. We are restrained from judgement: that is His job. For even "… God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:17)."
A lassie fare attitude will not work either. We must become involved. If an open forum is not a comfortable style for us, then privately in our work-a-day activities or in our private moments with those around us. Keep in mind, however, that we are not God’s moral squad commissioned to fix this broken world. Our job is not to fix, but to offer a viable solution. Any less of a stance will eventually lead to irreconcilable differences, division, prejudice and hate. The bottom line is that none of us can cram love down anyone’s throat. So, that is not even an option.
On the other hand, though, we must embrace one another as brothers and sisters in love, or die as fools. This I say because America is not invincible, particularly so when and if we continue to allow ourselves to be divided one against the other in an atmosphere of hate and distrust. Black, white, the brown and all hues in-between are God’s children, as well as the 'haves' and the 'have-nots. '
As ever, be blessed and —
“Let those (among us) without sin cast the first stone … (John 8:7.”
JimR/
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