There are Baptist churches today in America who don’t want African-Americans attending, much less joining. It’s been said that Sunday morning at 11:00 is the most segregated hour in America. I was once confronted by a Deacon who was upset that I had chosen a bulletin cover that featured a group of African children on the cover… for “World Missions Sunday.” This is a problem.
Al Mohler published a blog article today entitled Is the Abortion Argument Changing?. It’s excellent. At the end, he references a sermon by Russell Moore that makes the argument that Joseph (Jesus’ step-father) was a “single-issue evangelical.”
I’m fairly progressive. I’m quite forward-thinking. But when it comes to the issue of life in relationship to politics, elections, legislation, etc., abortion is still a deal-breaker for me. Am I a narrow-minded single-issue evangelical? Absolutely. Why? Because the whole time we’re focused on…
God is focused on the innocent. He always has been. He always will be. We can say “just look beyond this one issue.” As far as I’m concerned, that’s like asking the guy who is having a heart attack to focus on his runny nose. We have a problem for which God will surely pour out His wrath. They are ultimately his babies, after all.
And here’s another point: Abortion IS Racism! Read or watch…
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord…” -Jonah 1:3
A devoted Sunday School teacher once taught her class the story of Jonah being swallowed by the whale after running from God. She added all the flare and drama she could muster, then she proceeded to ask them what the moral of the story was. One little boy spoke up, “You can’t keep a good man down.”
Jonah is introduced to us as a man on the run. I believe that there are too many Christians today who identify with Jonah early in the story. They are running, they are trying to escape the calling of God and the presence of God. Jonah fought the inner battle over surrendering to God’s will, as well as a personal battle with racism toward the Ninevites. Ultimately God won out, of course, but we will never know the blessings Jonah missed while he was running.
In our lives, we’ll never know the blessings we’ve missed when we’ve wasted time running from God’s purpose. Whether we are allowing a distraction to keep us from the Father, or we are willfully rebelling against His will for our lives, we miss out on so much.
What is God calling you to do today? It may be difficult, but there is a blessing in the journey for those who will attempt the difficult. Give in and go for God today!
“And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.”—Acts 22:22
Exactly what “word” did the Jewish leaders hear that incited such hatred in their voices toward the apostle Paul? Well, they listened to his discourse on the history of Israel with patience. They endured his preaching of the deity of Christ and even his proclamation of Jesus as Messiah. But when he said, “God has sent me to the Gentiles,” he had gone too far. They were saying, “You can mock our religion but don’t you dare care about Gentiles.” Who exactly are the “Gentiles?” Any non-Jew is a Gentile. Hey, that’s me!
I once dealt with a man who didn’t want his church to reach out to people of other races. His excuse? “They have their churches and we have ours.” What a mockery of Christianity! Paul preached in Acts 17:26-27, “(God) hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,… that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might find him, though he be not far from every one of us.” God’s love is bigger than a race. His arms are wrapped around the entire globe!
Is there any hint of racism in your heart? A feeling of supremacy, that your particular race is somehow better than another? We must work to crucify those attitudes at the foot of the cross, where Jesus died for all.
Brandon is first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ. He's a husband to Angie and a Dad to Ella Grace and Samuel David. He's a Pastor to Bethel Baptist Church, Editor of Fuel Your Blogging and also a logo and web designer.
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