Embracing Diversity as a Family Blog #9: Chapter 7. Prejudgment – Hate, Division, Separation
We need to lift each other up and get to know each other deeply. We need to listen to and understand each other’s perspectives. We need to guard our hearts and tongues because the enemy prowls around and seeks to divide and destroy us. Instead of just throwing terms into conversions, we need to learn their true definitions to understand words like intersectionality, microaggressions, oppression, racism, and wokeness. We need to acknowledge that problems rooted in evil exist that are meant to divide us, then let the Gospel guide us to repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and equality with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to extend love in good faith and have discernment about people and organizations who are playing us instead of being genuinely loving in Christ. We need to know our facts, do our own research, make informed decisions, and rely on God’s Word for the ultimate truth as He sanctifies us.
Attacks by Christians on other Christians are strategies of the enemy. Sharing a disparaging meme or an alarmingly negative out-of-context video clip of a pastor or Christian influencer is not helpful. Authentic and meaningful conversations are more important than sound bites. We do not have to have a civil war in the church or pick sides. We are on the side of Christ, always. We should follow the Word of God and dialogue with fellow believers in our church and communities about these hard truths that we each will face in earthly life. But the overarching truth is that God created us all and Christ died for us all. Let then all of us be filled with the Holy Spirit and be on the same team, reconciled with one another, living fully and lovingly for Him. Salvation is a gift of God by grace alone, for God’s glory alone. We can discuss our groups’ claims as true or not true from our individual perspective, then conclude that the Gospel covers and remedies it all. The Gospel is enough; we do not need society’s terms to explain Jesus to us; we can run to Him instead. We can flock together in our differences as He feeds and shepherds us as His lambs.
As a final thought to close this chapter, Christians often prejudge other followers of Jesus Christ as not being “Christian enough”. When there is disagreement on baptism, catechisms, creeds, and other valuable, denominational tenets of our shared faith, let us remember this biblical truth. The thief on the cross joined Jesus in Paradise because he simply believed in Him. Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). The thief, hanging on his cross at Calvary alongside Jesus, had no time before his death for any formalities that we probably consider essentials of Christian doctrine. He only believed and conveyed that to Jesus. Let us do the same ourselves and consider setting aside some of our — perhaps high and mighty — expectations of other believers based on what we might personally think is important in Christianity.
Here is the Amazon link for Embracing Diversity as a Family: Preparing the Next Generation to Flourish.
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