I have read three articles and watched two five minute news segment in relation to Ferguson. Just like you, I don’t know all the details nor am I trying to assess that particular matter and make conclusions on it; that would be unwise. The occasion however presses a discussion though, does it not? I don’t want to divide along the lines of black/white to discern this matter. I want to lock arms with the Jesus seekers and seek to see if there’s something we are missing? And I think there is. Despite civil rights acts and desegregation laws, despite the fact that no one can pour coke and popcorn on my mom’s head while she and her black friends sit on the lower level of the local movie theater, despite all the strides toward equality, it still appears that black men, in particular, are anything but equal. Maybe I’m wrong, but I have black brothers, black cousins, black friends and I have seen it more than once. The ramifications of the sin of racism are vastly different, but there are always ramifications. Whether the result of racism is death or missed job opportunity or denial of friendship, all should be addressed by the saint and equally repented of. In Ferguson no conclusions can be drawn, and it is likely there will never be finality on the matter this side of heaven, but God knows. I am trusting Him to sort that, but I just want to ask all of us…is there any polluting seed of racism that we need to repent of?

I am writing this post, because there is a seed of racism in all our hearts, a seed called indwelling sin, and perhaps we can all together decide to kill it, or it will kill us.

My brother is black and so am I. The implications of his skin color have harsher implications than mine. It is sad, and it is reality. I read the headlines about Ferguson and a few articles trying to gain some Christ-honoring perspective for myself. And sit and stare at the screen and who doesn’t shake their head at all of this? What heart doesn’t ache for a mother bereaved of her son? Who among us doesn’t ache for the reports to show that the officer is innocent in the matter? I don’t want to live like this…in a world where the possibility remains that someone’s skin color may have played part in their untimely death. And yet there’s a chance that it did.

There are dark skinned hardened criminals who are violent and dangerous and there are white skinned blue eyed men who are mass murderers, both should be imprisoned. The difference? One fits in with pop culture in terms of appearance and the other does not and is oftentimes subjected to blanket ill fitting assumptions which are made instantly by most of us.

Could we think beyond Ferguson… How can lives made in God’s image be snuffed out so easily? It’s not just bullets that take lives, it’s deeper than that. It’s something about what we allow to live in our hearts.

The poisonous seeds of sin planted in our souls if not dealt with according to Scripture will bring forth a harvest of injustice.

Racism doesn’t instruct us in a mere moment; it poisons the soul long before any sort of expression of it is evident.

It’s the Christian mom and/or dad who love Jesus but flip out once their son begins dating someone of another race. You couldn’t see the racism until time and occasion revealed it.

It’s the white staffed Christian college campus who tells an over-qualified applicant to their on-campus bank that they aren’t taking applications for the job she’s applied for…who encourage her to look for work in the school cafeteria and then give the job to her white peer. You can’t see the racism; it’s hidden, but given enough time and occasion racism shows itself.

Stereotypes exist for a reason, but is it fair to say that sometimes at the bottom of a blanket stereotype a sea of racism is instructing it. And shouldn’t we avoid all obvious and subtle expressions of this contagious sin?

Can I just bare my heart for a moment?  And thank you for allowing me to be vulnerable, because here’s what I have wondered in my heart of hearts… Maybe people become who we say they are…maybe at the end of the day we just fed young black men a perverse lie that they are what media, movies, what the general public believe they are. Maybe after a 5, 10, 15 year old boy hears it long enough and feels it deep enough, he finally becomes that hard cold criminal stereotype?  Even if he isn’t the stereotype to start…maybe his inner voice adopts the lie and lives it like truth sometimes? And if he lives that lie, he is fully accountable for his sin, but his sin doesn’t acquit us of our own. Aren’t all of us a little responsible for perpetuating this kind of racism? The kind of racism that assumes we know someone based on an observation of skin color, based on assessments we make in moments.  I am not asking us to disregard wisdom in our dealings with people, I am just asking how much does culture instruct what we think about our black brothers and how much does Scripture instruct it?

I watched my brother live this out in part.  I remember him well as little boy, being 5 years older. Bright, optimistic, smart little guy, a little boy with the spark that all little boys have. We weren’t dealt the best background in regards to upbringing, but still my little brother possessed talent and skill, and was fairly kind and pretty likable. But he became a big guy and his skin a deepened as he grew older into a beautiful ebony color, strikingly handsome, but his skin color became his plight. What I barely experienced in regards to racism, he received in full measure.  Pulled over for nothing how many times? Accused in the school system of this, that, and the other thing how many times? Is he black? Then, he’s guilty. And yeah sometimes black men are guilty and justice should be served, but it seems like many of them are serving a sentence dealt in the unjust courts of our own hearts. A boy learns who everyone thinks he is and over time, if believed, that lie snuffs out bright hope and spark. And my little brother grew up past the stereotype, but his life has had all the difficulty of that of a black man in America. That may never change, unless God’s people lead out in acknowledgement of the sin that goes on and choose Christ over prejudice. What if the church recognized even the sin of the heart in this matter or the sin of simply dismissing racism as someone else’s issue to sort?

The Gospel demands that we think prayerfully and differently.

The value of human life is always equal. Until this country realizes it we will continue to add to the list of names of young black men who lost their lives, in some measure, to a seed of racism perhaps hidden deep in the corridors of our hearts. Maybe we could guard our hearts a little more and ask God to guide us in the secret places?

Racism is pride concealed in its deadliest form. And in every way, I would like for my little brother to live.