Reclaim&Convict

Racism is a sin issue.

This is something I've been hearing from Christians for years, usually in response to a broader global or national conversation on racism. It's true, and yet I tend to stiffen at its use. Why? Because too often it's used to dismiss instead of to convict. 

It's not the same path, but it reminds me of how people who were against anti-miscegenation laws would continue to advocate against interracial marriage because children resulting from such marriages were mistreated. It shifts the focus of the problem at the expense of action or introspection and keeps us complacent, giving the semblance of moral action, in the face of injustice.

And I'll go ahead with a disclaimer that this post is more for my white brothers and sisters, particularly those in an environment where this truth has been used to shut down conversation (consciously or unconsciously), but I hope that whoever is reading this, you can gain something from these words.  

What makes the rhetoric around this statement on sin so dangerous is that it relies on something true, making it difficult to breakdown or address. It's not labeling racism a sin that is the problem but what we do once that label is applied. And for large part we've let that label end the discussion. 

And so many people are well-meaning when they say it, but they are not moved to personal action because they do not understand how this dismissal works.

People have used this label to shift a debate on broken systems to one on individual people. And honestly, this isn't all bad. We cannot ignore unjust systems, but the work of changing them is more effectively done when people regain a heart for justice. The problem is that almost no one wants to be racist, which means turning the conversation to individual sin doesn't lead to conviction. It puts the onus on the far off "them" and not on ourselves or our loved ones. But if we admit racism exists and yet none of us are willing to take any ownership for it, how does anything change? Whether or not racism is present in our own hearts, the sin discussion has to create a standard of humbling ourselves to earnestly look into our hearts or we'll never get anywhere. 

But this is hard to do because like all sin, racism adapts. We've trained ourselves to recognize racism in the Ku Klux Klanner and the elderly woman preaching "God made us separate for a reason," but these in and of themselves were an adaption to the post-slavery era when racist beliefs and structures couldn't go on as they had. When the culture changed, racism had to operate in a new way. 

And it's had to change again. The overt racism of the previous eras is no longer acceptable. Racism has become synonymous with bad, meaning that expressions of racism have to be more hidden than they ever have been before. And this is so effective because it finds other justifications to keep itself buried while keeping our eyes fixed on segregation era expressions of racism as our definition. It effectively blinds us to our own beliefs, thoughts, actions, and instincts while also shutting down any challenge or insinuation because nobody wants to be labeled as racist.

And this allows everyone to label themselves as "not racist." If they hold their purse closer when a black person walks by, that's just being safe. If they perpetuate racist stereotypes, it's okay because they have a black friend. When racism is equated with violence or overt hatred, those who never questioned why they do certain things or those who cover it with reason or any justification can be forever exempted from it. That's why we have to address the root, not the symptoms. We know this. If your self-worth is in climbing the corporate ladder to be successful, that doesn't go away just because you quit your job to work at a nonprofit; that drive for worth in success doesn't depend on how many figures you make because the definition of success can change. And whether it's found in money, social standing, family, ministry, etc, it can have just as strong a tie on your self-worth in any context. Address the circumstances, and the sin will adapt to a new set of circumstances; we have to address the heart.

We couldn't dismiss the racism of segregation because it didn't look like the racism of slavery; we would never tell someone living in the Civil Rights Movement to look how far they'd come since slavery (not as a dismissal anyway). Because in the modern era, we acknowledge as a culture that segregation was racist. And yet too often that phrase is readily on our lips when it comes to the last 60 years. Too often difference is what exonerates us from the implication of racism. As if past progress can stall the need for present progress. But God is always against sin. 

God's grace always covers us, but He will never give us a pass on present sin because it was worse in the past. He will never tell us to take a breather and rest in our manageable insecurity because we've grown so much that it's no longer crippling. He wants us to be whole. And sin will always get in the way of that. Sin was never a part of His design for us—He knows it destroys us no matter how comfortable it can feel—and He’s always calling us out of it into a better way. It is the constant struggle of the Christian faith, but it is a mark of a God who cares. Who wants the best for us. Who is not satisfied with our sin but wants to make us whole, unified to Him and His heart.

We act like racism will go away with good behavior. Like we're changed from the outside, not the inside. Like we can rely on a changing society to transform our sins instead of the Holy Spirit. And that's where we're right to turn the conversation from systemic injustice to personal hearts. Because while the systems need to change, the world will never become a safe place for people of color until hearts change too.

But hearts changing means pressing in. It means being uncomfortable. It means addressing what in us is ugly. 

Nobody wants to see themselves as racist just like nobody wants to see themselves as envious, greedy, wrathful, proud, lustful, slothful, gluttonous. We don't like to see our sins, and so often because of that, we don't. Sometimes I think this is why we balk so much at words like "systemic." As with our culture of busyness and heightened productivity, racism affects how we exist in the United States, and saying it's found its way into our systems doesn't dismiss personal responsibility to it but admits to an uphill battle within those systems that we don't really want to fight. If the problem is within the fabric of our culture, we are all a part of it. We all have a personal responsibility to working against it, and that's hard. By labeling racism as sin, we put it on individual shoulders and too often miss the broader picture, but even where moving the conversation to individuals is productive, its value breaks down when the pattern is to implicate others (whether vague or specific) and never ourselves.

Hearts won't change by friendship alone. Our pride has never gone away just because it hurts people we love, whether or not we are aware of that hurt; sin only changes when it's addressed, when it's humbly laid before the revealing and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. 

Hearts also won't change by guilt alone. So many people I know are afraid to look into their family or national history because they're afraid of what they'll find. Of being tied to the injustice on a more personal level. Of bearing the weight of it. Blindness leaves us satisfied, but guilt keeps those who see the problem just as immobile as those who perpetuate it. Guilt is a momentary tool to bring conviction, and when it overstays, it leads to destruction.

We're all afraid of being called racist, but while the world will condemn us, there is no condemnation in the cross. That's our power. That's our freedom to face our sins and trust in God's renewal. That's our freedom to stop being afraid of what we might uncover and how it will reflect on us and instead to humbly kneel before God and ask Him to search our hearts and make them to reflect Him. That's our freedom to stop using the label of sin as a means of dismissing sin, hoping it'll go away on its own, and instead to be active in addressing it within ourselves and lovingly within those close to us.

Ask yourself, is labeling racism as a sin furthering the conversation in your own heart and in your community or is it a substitute for action and the hard work of introspection?

The power the Christian has is that every bit of the ugliness in our hearts becomes greater beauty in the cross. In the One who took on our sin that we might be joined to Him. The darker our sin, the more brilliant His light. The greater our evil, the greater the depths of His love. And the deeper our brokenness, the more glorious His transformative work in us. We need not be afraid.

The redemption of a broken world is more beautiful to us than a world which was never broken because we see the transformation. Because we know the evil that could have been. That was. 

Sin is insidious. It allures. It adapts. It wreaks devastation whether or not that is immediately evident. But it doesn't have the final say. 

Let's take away sin's power. Let's remove its ability to adapt by casting our eyes towards it, by asking God to search us, by surrendering our sin to Him who will make us new. We have the freedom of the cross, and no darkness can stand against His light. Transformation is a difficult and often unpleasant process, but it's a free gift to receive through the Holy Spirit working in us and it is always better.

Nothing will ever get better if we are left to our own devices, if we are complacent, if we rely on good behavior or outside circumstances to change us. How do things get better? Conviction. Change. True repentance. The power of the Holy Spirit working in us to align our hearts with God's design for the world. 

Church, it's time to reclaim the discussion on racism. To stop letting "racism is a sin issue" be a cop-out for addressing real issues and to start asking what it means for racism to be a sin issue. To lead with challenge, correction, and conviction in the power and goodness of the Holy Spirit. To let our history--however dark it may be--embolden us to search our hearts, to humbly pray, to honestly reflect, and to steward God's Kingdom in this broken world. 

And I know that there are plenty of people in the church who are fighting against racism, especially within the groups subjected to it. And I know that people of color have experienced racism in different ways and different stereotypes depending on their ethnic groups. And I know that the church isn’t just white, nor is everyone reading this. But I am and I feel a responsibility to speak to those who are on this topic. Because we need to be challenged. Because we are creating an unsafe environment within the House of God by not rooting out the sin within us.

Racism is a sin issue, and we cannot be complacent with sin whether it is written into our hearts or into our systems. We have to be vigilant. We have to seek the Holy Spirit constantly. But we have nothing to fear. Our sin turns to His glory in the work of redemption. 

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." ~Romans 3:23

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ~John 1:8-9

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." ~James 5:16

"Search me, God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! " ~Psalm 139:23-24