Judged by the Content of Our Character
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Square One
Judged by the Content of Our Character
by Richard Mansel
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King
delivered his remarkable "I Have a Dream" speech
in Washington to thousands of people./1 By April
4, 1968, King's voice fell silent because of an
assassin's bullet at the Lorraine Hotel in
Memphis./2 Nevertheless, King's legacy still
resonates today.
God sends Samuel to anoint the next king of Israel
(1 Samuel 16). Samuel goes and gathers the family
of Jesse together. Seeing Eliab, he says, "Surely
the Lord's anointed is before Him" (1 Samuel 16:6,
NKJV). God tells Samuel, "For the Lord does not
see as man sees; for man looks at the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1
Samuel 16:7). David is not among the sons
presented to Samuel because they thought he was
insufficient. God had different criteria and David
received the anointing.
God examines the heart. "For the Lord searches all
hearts and understands all the intent of the
thoughts" (1 Chronicles 28:9).
Dr. King said, "I have a dream that one day this
nation will rise up and live out the true meaning
of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-
evident: that all men are created equal.'"/3
Ironically, some of the men who penned this
"creed" from the Declaration of Independence were
not practicing these very principles, despite
their self-evidentiary nature.
God condemns the duplicitous man. "A double-minded
man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). The
residual racism we harbor in our hearts, but hide
from others, will boil over if we do not purge it
from our lives.
The world separates man by race, creed, color, and
a host of other trivialities. We are called to
glorify God and walk accordingly (Ephesians 3:20-
4:1). Christ commands his children to cease being
respecters of persons (Acts 10:34).
Racism and bigotry are worldly behaviors. They
have no place in the kingdom of God. We must
dispense with the world's narrow-minded ways and
lift our minds to a higher calling.
We must see people as God sees them. Dr. King
said, "I have a dream that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they will not
be judged by the color of their skin but by the
content of their character."/4
We all have friends, relatives, neighbors, and
associates who refer to people of different races
and cultures in a derogatory manner. It does not
matter how we were raised or what experiences we
have had or what our culture expects. Christians
have no right to act as the world does (Matthew
5:43,44; 1 John 2:9; John 13:34).
God knows we have different races and cultures but
never commands us to dispense with these cultures.
Paul told Gentiles and Jews to see each other as
one body of Christians. However, they were still
people of Jewish and Gentile heritage.
Different races and cultures exist. We must
understand that these differences exist and not
demand that they become like us in order to be
accepted. Those who do things differently than we
do and do not violate Scripture can continue as
they please, without our ridicule. God demands
that we do not judge others on criteria that we do
not wish to be judged by (Matthew 7:1,2).
We pray that the Church will begin leading in
racial unity rather than emulating the world's
sin. If we will finally see people as souls,
rather than color and cultural distinctions, we
will take a huge step toward becoming lights to
the world. Let us start today. Bigotry and racism
must finally be silenced among the Lord's people.
__________
1/ http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html
2/ Today, the Lorraine Hotel houses the National Civil Rights Museum
http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/
3/ http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html
4/ Ibid.
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