I haven't posted in such a long time! God's just been throwing new lessons at me left and right. But here I am now to write once more.
So I'm taking this class called Social Inequalities: Race, Class, and Gender and it’s the best ever. I LOVE that class because I’m beginning to see more and more where God and my life meet. Sometimes God seems so far removed from our lives that we wouldn’t know how to incorporate Him even if we tried. But this class whether we’re talking about God or not forces me to see things through a “God-lens”, if you will.
We look at where humanity is and form opinions about what’s going on as far as inequalities go and something I was struck with is the fact that we live in a fallen world. I repeat, a FALLEN world. Which is to that this world in a continual state of entropy, it is constantly falling apart and people are constantly and actively turning their backs to God. But don’t become passive towards this reality so quickly, God Himself knows that our world is fallen, this is a fact He’s made known to us by His Spirit. This isn’t news to Him and yet, He still calls us to be ambassadors, He does not snatch us from the clutches of this world but calls us to bear with one another, because He knows this world is tough.
But back to this class. One day we were talking about one of the hugest, most blatantly racist mistakes I’ve ever heard of, but kept a secret from the general public. Well the cat’s out of the bag now, but people still don’t really know much about the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments (you should look them up if you’re interested in that). But what was most disheartening was when one student in my class raised their hand and said this, “Well, we live in a fallen world and we can’t expect perfection from the government… unless we’re being lead by perfect Christians and I don’t even think that’s possible.” Well, she’s not wrong, she’s exactly right, our world is fallen so to think we’re going to get perfection from our government leaders is insanity. But I think what that statement lacks is a sense of sensitivity and compassion for other people. There are people starving in other countries, do we just tell them, “Sorry, someone’s got to be at the bottom. Our world is fallen, you know.” NO! If that was the case, God would have left us a long time ago. As soon as the Fall happened God would have peaced out.
So this is where my title comes in, bearing with one another (Ephesians 4:2). This passage specifically is referring to the Church and how the Church should relate to and view one another. But Jesus Himself showed understanding and compassion for those who were on the “outside” of this church-body. Yes we can recognize that the world is fallen, that it’s never going to be perfect until the Kingdom of Heaven has (in its fullness) arrived on earth. BUT, do not become distracted by this, continue to pursue and love with compassion all of those around you. God knew this world would be tough which is why we are called to bear with one another. Do no become complacent to the point where you’ve lost hope, there IS hope and His name is Jesus Christ. Don’t expect perfection from the world, but burn with the desire for God to make all things new and crave justice, because the God we serve is abundantly just.
With Love,
Alysha
