We Are One in Him and Thus Family

I left for a few days this past weekend only to hear of the unrest in many of our major cities across America. Race and injustice emerge as a flashpoint among us. We are reminded that race for those following Christ is an amalgamation; we are one in Him and thus family. Period! If you ask the Gospel to identify the problems that hinder us as human beings, those same things that manifest themselves in social ills. So, the Gospel reminds us that we are all created in the image of God, but we are rebellious and sinful. It is a fact that when I look into the face of my neighbor, all my neighbors, I am seeing someone who is made for God. Indeed I am beholding someone for whom Jesus came to rescue. The basis of how I treat my neighbor then should be found in how I am treated by God. I should graciously love others because He first loved me. I am quick to forgive because He forgave me. I take the ways of true kindness seriously because of God’s loving-kindness toward me. If God withholds His wrath from me, then I will not give my heart to wrath (or pride, greed, lusts, envy, or other vices for that matter). Kingdom virtue is to be sown into the world from me, filled with the Holy Spirit, like salt to enrich my world and so my world may flourish in the blessings of God. I am called to treat all like I would like to be treated or have been treated by God. This is being reconciled into the one family of God through Christ.

Barry