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Martin Luther King, Jr.: 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.”

We think that the racial issue is a man-to-man problem and it’s absolutely not.

Racial reconciliation, something that’s plaguing our country now, has plagued our country, and indeed the world. It’s something that we don’t wanna talk about ’cause we think it’s taboo, it’s touchy, it’s media-driven, or it’s painful. But at the end of the day, we have to ’cause it’s impacting all of us and . . . in fact, the gospel demands we do.

My story was one that wasn’t plagued by a lot of drama. I grew up in a neighborhood that was peaceful, that was great, but it was racially split. One side was white, one side was black, literally across the street.

Why?

When my mother was a child, there were thick ropes to prevent her from crossing to the white side. I grew up in that same house. those ropes were gone and those houses were passed down to children so it still looks the way it is, the ramifications of the past.

Does that mean the pain and problems of the past remain there? I don’t think that’s true.

But I’ve had great opportunity standing on the shoulders of those who fought for peace, both white and black who’ve sacrificed and given their lives for this.

My mother raised me with a great awareness of our country’s history and where we were at the time and where we still are. She told me things like, “Hey, listen, when you get pulled over, here’s the extra steps you need to take to make it home.” But she never raised me with an ounce of malice, or bitterness, or a chip on my shoulder. She just told me there are extra steps you have to take to survive as a minority.

Today we’re facing tension as it relates to racial inequalities, racial injustices, and just misunderstandings and big differences.

If anybody’s ever gonna offer hope to this situation, I fully believe that it has to be and will be believers in Jesus who take this topic seriously, who can change the narrative of scriptures that were used and manipulated to make certain injustices okay and show what the Scripture really says about freedom and peace.

One of the things Jesus said, he gave us this great answer. He said that, “the greatest commandment, the one that sums up the entire Bible is this: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength.’ And ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

If you pay attention, you can see the cross in that commandment. There’s a vertical man and God, love the Lord your God, and then love your neighbor as yourself.

We think that our racial indifferences and our challenges are a man-to-man proposition, it’s man hating man. And that’s incorrect. It’s a God to man proposition. If we’re not reconciled with God first, we have no hope of being reconciled correctly to each other. And that reconciliation is played out in the life of Jesus, who literally left heaven to go on a mission of reconciliation to connect us to the Father and to each other, the way it was designed to be.

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