Colorblind Love

There are hundreds of touchy subjects that the world hates talking about. There's abortion, welfare, guns, oh and then if you go to church there is tithing! "How do they expect me to give a tenth of my income??" But that's a different post for a different time! 

Whether you are Christian or not, there is one issue that is familiar to all of us, and it personally keeps coming up in my life. One that I cannot escape. An issue that has followed me for my entire life and will continue to do so until I depart from this life. That issue is race. And it's because I'm black.

Okay, I know you're thinking, can't I take my three day weekend off without hearing about this? I hope that if you're reading this, that you can sit back on this beautiful Martin Luther King Jr day and reflect on how this subject has affected your life, whether your skin is white, brown, or anywhere else in between. This is for the world because, even globes are blue and green.

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I grew up in New Orleans, and now that I look back I can't remember having any white friends. There was one in elementary but, I'm pretty sure he only attended for one year. I was a smart kid so I went to a nice magnet school that required entrance tests to get in. All of the other students were black. All I knew was black. There was no interracial couples or marriages in my family. Just black on black. 

After we moved to Texas, a minor culture shock had taken place and our whole family's perspective had to change. All of my teachers were white. I took Pre Advanced Placement classes and the vast majority of the kids were white. It doesn't seem like a big deal but, when a black kid from the homicide ridden downtown of New Orleans steps into the halls of a middle school in Wichita Falls, I had some very interesting experiences. I was followed around in a Maurice's once trying to find my mom a birthday present. I have been pulled over because I "looked like the suspect the police had been looking for." I have even been asked if I could handle certain classes. Blame it on the melanin!

I am a first generation college student. My mother worked two jobs to help me get through high school. We lived in what most would call the "ghetto." I was convinced that people would just label the ghetto as where the most black people and hispanics lived. I can't stand the word. And instead of helping that impoverished part of the city most nice cars would detour around it.

Upon graduating from high school, my closest friends were white. These are friends that I keep up with to this day. Their families know me and it feels like I'm apart of their home. And as I look back, they never defined me by the color of my skin. In fact, I'm convinced that they would think that such a thing is silly.

I never had to become another person for them to see me as equal. I never had to stop brushing my hair or change the way I talked when I got around them. There were also teachers and academic counselors that took the time to get to know the real me. Not many people would take time out of their lives to hear stories anymore, due to the "business" of our own lives filled with facebook novels and twitter quotes. But they did, and many of those faithful people are the reason why I decided to go to college. Because of where I'm from, college is not a promise or even a goal; graduating high school is.

And now I am a junior at Texas Tech University where I pledged a black fraternity where the black people are actually a minority number. One of my best friends is a white guy with a beard that looks like he belongs in the mountains on beef jerky commercials. He along with two other white guys are my roommates. 

If I weren't pushing the limit yet, here it goes. I am dating a white girl. The most beautiful girl in the world. Though I cherish our relationship, there are a few extra hoops that we have to jump through because of our different colors. For example, one time we ate at a diner in town, and an old woman stared at us as we walked out. I've gotten that stare many times now that I think about it. Our families aren't used to another color entering the circle. That has been hard at times, and it has been the most recent issue related to color that I have experienced. For years, society has put labels on us. It's not my fault that I'm black, God made me this way.

That is true. And God alone has the power to make any newborn any color He desires, even green! And here's another true statement: I am black, for God's glory! Just as you may be white, hispanic, asian, or whatever else, you have been made BY God. Color does not make us "unequally yoked." Color does not lock down our "election by God." Color does not guarantee us a ticket to a good or heavenward life. 

In fact, color has nothing to do with anything. Before my friends, my girlfriend, and I knew Jesus, God only saw one thing in us: Our sin. 

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He for sure didn't take me being black into consideration before making a decision to send me to hell or not. And I don't think that He does that for anyone else. He made us.  In Ephesians 1:4 Paul says that even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. So God knew that I would be black, He knows everything. He made everything. However, that's not how he judges me. I did not keep His law. So in His eyes, I am known as a law-breaker.

Not black, not anything else but a law-breaker. So if God looks at us in this way, there's a lot of different races who I know will not be with Jesus because, nobody can keep His law. Not one. Not one Jew or Gentile. Not one white or black. Not one. 

We are all black. Let me explain. I remember last year's Spring Break where my church served in inner-city Arlington. One of our last projects with the kids we were ministering to were the gospel beads. I'm sure most are familiar with these! These beads formed a bracelet that explained the gospel in such a simple yet amazing way. The first bead is black, and it represented our sin. 

God does not judge me on terms of my color but He does have to find a way to punish the darkness of the sin that is in me. The way to punish that is with eternal wrath, separated from God in that place called Hell. At this point, we cannot do anything about it. We are all sinners, and thats what God sees us as. And God cannot be with sin.

So in order for God to save us from the sin that separates us from Him, He has to look down and see us as something other than black (our sin). God cannot stand it. He has to look at us as Himself; unblemished and perfect. How did He do that?

This is the best discovery in Civil Rights history. This is larger than the story of Dr. King. This is better than any social-injustice movement in history. God left His home to do something about it. What did He do?

He sent Jesus to die for us and to cover those who put their trust in Him with His blood. He initiated the push for racial unity. By God sending His Son to cover us with His red blood, we who follow Jesus are now deemed spotless! For the first time in a long time we can be with God! He doesn't look at us as dark, black, and sinful once we put our trust in Jesus!

--because Jesus covered us, that's who He sees. Himself.

That's the kind of love that we replicate. A love that isn't biased of color, or party, or anything else we can filter. A love that looks at a person as a person. Not a color. This is colorblind love.