Episode 2

TODAY’S READING:

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.

1 John 2:9

 

Does your heart weigh a little heavy these days? I know my heart hurts – it breaks for what breaks God’s heart, and what we are seeing today and have seen for generations is the very evil He sacrificed His life to destroy. 

 

This devotional was a hard one for me to write. Most people have watched the news this week and may have even thought to themselves, “God, where are you?”. Can I encourage you? God is here. He is fighting injustice with us. Every day he takes up the battle against the enemy. Every day he protects His people against hate and fear. For hundreds of years, He fought against slavery, and the fight never stopped and will never stop. Today He fights against racism. He fights the prejudiced Spirit that looms. Tomorrow, the enemy will attack with new schemes, but I can promise you God will be there fighting for us. 

 

When I set out to write these devotionals, I set out to spread light in this dim world. My prayer today is that we, as a community, vow to extend the heart of God to our black community.

 

You see the Spirit He deposited into me, and the Spirit He deposited into you doesn’t see skin color, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. It only sees one thing—his creation. 

 

As His perfect creation, we all have different features. We have different skin colors, eye colors, hair textures. We speak different languages. We have different personality types, different interests, and hobbies. We have different passions. But we share one thing—our Creator. 

 

Alone, we can’t save the world. It’s not our job. We weren’t called to be the savior. You weren’t born on another planet and given the ability to shoot laser beams from your eyes and wear a red cape.  

 

But you know what you were born to do? You were born to love, be loved, and extend grace. 

 

Together, we can stand against the very evil that is tearing us apart. How? By standing in unity. By extending grace. By showing mercy to others. By listening to your neighbor. By serving other people. 

 

Do you know what upsets the enemy? Not a bunch of believers, no, you see the enemy could care less if we identified as a Christian – because he knows he can get anyone to do his dirty work for him. We’ve seen him do his worst for hundreds of years. For many generations, people have preached “love” by slandering the very people Jesus died to save. The very people Jesus created, and that is not the heart of God.  

 

What upsets the enemy is a unified people. Unity – means that we can stand together no matter what the exterior looks like. It means we can extend love, a helping hand, and mercy. It means we can look at evil and turn the other way. 

 

As faithful Christians – as truly loving people, we are called to live more like Jesus every single day. How can we live like Jesus? Well, we need to first study His very Spirit. 

 

Galatians 5:22-23

 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentlenesses, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.

 

The best news? This is the Spirit He deposited into you. 

 

I urge you to check yourself daily. When a division has a way of creeping through, check your heart and bring it back to the one who calls us all – yes all, wonderfully made in His image. Are you showing love? Joy? Peace? Forbearance? Another translation of the bible refers to this as patience. How about goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? 

 

We first have to start with ourselves. Then we can inspire those around us to live life according to His will. 

 

PRAYER

Jesus, we thank you for a generation of believers who will no longer watch your creation be persecuted. We pray for peace. Lord, we need peace now more than ever. We pray for the strength to fight the good fight. We pray to first extend the fruit of the Spirit in our heart, in our home, with our friends and family – this way, it can pour over to our neighbors and those around us. We pray to love others the way you love us all. We don’t have the answers. We don’t need the answers; all we need is the faith to know that you are in control. We love you; we love your beautiful people. In your mighty name, we pray, Amen!