Tuesday, February 09, 2021

All Lives Matter

Do you have a problem with that statement?  I just read it in our colleague from Cleveland's devotional on Racial Reconciliation.  He happens to be an Alliance minister of African ancestry.  But how do his thoughts affect the way we value other cultures than our own?  Even Mongolians are not immune to ethnocentrism, and have a long way to go to protecting the unborn as well.  Ron's challenge urges us who belong to Christ to value life according to the Creator and the cross, rather than color or culture.

RACIAL RECONCILIATION RON MORRISON

God makes it clear in His word that His image bearers’ lives matter equally and supremely—and He sent His Son to prove it. There is no hierarchy of importance in human life. Do you believe that statement, or do you assign levels of importance on some over others? What makes one person’s life superior and another inferior?

If you don’t believe in a hierarchy of importance in human life, then you should have no problem unpacking the statement “All Lives Matter” to assign every people group equal value. Black lives included. While our nation’s history is scarred by injustices like slavery, and current events include the all-too-frequent mistreatment of Blacks, Christ followers must lead the way in fully acknowledging the equal dignity and value of Blacks as fellow image bearers.

This is why we need to allow the Bible to inform our worldview to “demolish arguments and . . . take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”—and to think like Him (2 Cor. 10:5). We need to agree with God about ALL image-bearing HUMAN LIFE—born and unborn—being of equal value and equally precious in His sight. This includes all Black life.

Have you allowed God’s Word to challenge your assumptions and change your thinking about absolutely everything? If only the Church for which Jesus shed His blood could unify around and embrace the great equalizer, the Cross, we could show this world what a holy nation looks like when God is our King.

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