I Learnt My Lesson
This post was originally shared in “The Good Letter - Vol. 3”
I had hoped that when writing this I'd be sharing lessons I learnt on my birthday, but a few days later a video of a black man dying circulated.
I still value the lessons I learnt around my birthday, however over the past few weeks I've been grappling with how I want to react to the madness in the world versus how I should react.
Anger and sadness [normal reactions] were the first emotions to meet me, as am I sure they did with you and as days have gone on we've seen the domino effect it's had - from protest to brands showing questionable solidarity, to everyone being cancelled and apologising for "past remarks" or for old tweets "resurfacing". Honestly, I can't keep up.
It all got too much for me one day I just couldn't focus - confusion and anxiety showed up next. I described to my mum that the way I was feeling was how I felt when we were told to work from home in March - the feeling was restlessness.
My restlessness grew to questioning - "God how should I react because I know all of this breaks your heart?"
This week God taught me this:
Don't seek for "White Guilt", seek for Repentance & Redemption instead.
What you're seeing is a sin issue.
Adam's choice to rebel is the very reason someone would be racist and why another would feel the need to loot during a peaceful protest.
Our current reality is a direct consequence of one man's rebellion towards God. Like Jesus said when talking about sin, "adding yeast to dough will make it rise" [paraphrase]. Adam's sin has been rising.
God hates sin and injustice stems from it.
Justice is being sought, but in and from an unjust world system. Only God can provide true justice. This doesn't mean I don't speak up and share my thoughts as a person of light, neither does it mean that God can't use us to facilitate His justice and demonstrate His love.
We are light in dark places, and being so, we must be careful of the justice we seek, especially as a black Christian I shouldn't seek for "White Guilt" or "White Condemnation" but it should be for "Repentance" - for the oppressors and the oppressed, both made in God's image, to be convicted of their sins, repent, change and love others as Christ instructed.
"White Guilt" is not a solution to ensuring that Black Lives will Matter.
Here's a video by The Bible Project that was shown on online church yesterday. This short video explains what true justice is in such an eye-opening way. May God teach us how to love, so that we will make God-pleasing decisions (justice) in this life.
And here is an interesting interview with Musician and Activist Daryl Davis - note that this was filmed two years ago and what he says rings very true even today.