I Am No VictimSample

Racism & Forgiveness The spirit of racism is a spirit of bondage. Racist individuals are in bondage to fear and hate. As Christians, we must understand the root causes and agenda of racism. This will prevent us from responding to racism in ways that align with the enemy’s agenda. Ultimately, the devil does not care about skin tones. He hates the entire human race. The enemy’s agenda is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10) and he accomplishes his mission through different channels. Racism is one of those channels. We should know that racist individuals are driven by a hateful heart that only God can truly heal. While human systems can be restructured to reduce the impact of racism, human systems do not heal racism; only the blood of Jesus can heal the racist heart . Also, human systems cannot redeem what was lost through racism; only the blood of Jesus can redeem what was lost or stolen from us by the enemy through racism. The intergenerational trauma of racism can be healed by God alone. Racists live in fear and torment that another is more powerful and will their place. The fear the racist feels is unfortunately being transferred. We cannot let that continue. Racism is designed to sow seeds of bitterness, fear, hate, unforgiveness, and rejection. When we allow these seeds to grow, we become victims of racism. When we do not allow these seeds to grow, we defeat everything racism is truly designed to accomplish. Forgiveness and compassion for the degenerated soul of racists is one way to deal with the negative feelings created by racism.  We must not allow racism to drag us down to its level of immaturity. Romans 12:2 (MSG), says “ Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. ” Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those who mocked and crucified him (Luke 23:34). Some may say it was easy for Jesus to forgive because he was “Jesus”. In Acts 7:58-60, Stephen asked God to forgive those who were stoning him to death. The Holy Spirit in Stephen gave him the extraordinary ability to forgive. The Holy Spirit is ready to help us forgive, see through the eyes of love and compassion. We can forgive those who offend and hate us by asking God to help us. My prayer is that we will live like Jesus, the one who is rich in love and mercy.