In the confusion and grave concerns surrounding all that is going on today, we need wisdom and clarity… a way of seeing. How amazing to know that God gave us His Word for that very reason. Scripture sets the tone for how we should see culture and interpret the times in which we live. I want to see culture and the kingdom clearly... not my lens but through the lens of God’s Word. Today as I read through the scriptures with the lens of a kingdom culture mindset, it struck me how His Word clears up my vision and changes my cultural lens. Read the passage below, as I did, in light of what is going on today. Put yourself into this scripture and look at life through this lens.
Colossians 3:12-17 “Since God chose you (me)to be holy people whom he loves, you (I) must clothe yourselves (myself) with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. You (I) must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you(me). Remember, the Lord forgave you (me), so you (I) must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you (I) must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your(my) hearts. For as members of one body you (we) are all created to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your (my) hearts and make you (me) wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you (I) do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the father.” (emphasis mine)
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| Tracy with his "see-through" Bible... a way he likes to illustrate seeing everything through the lens of Scripture |
In 1969 I was bused 15 miles to an all-black Jr. High School in our county. I was 11 years old and it was the year of integration for my state, South Carolina. From the start, I was beat up regularly by a black boy who just hated me. I have memories of race riots and fights throughout Jr. High and High School. One particular memory I have is walking home 15 miles after a riot broke out. All of this taught me to look at life in a narrow, cultural way. As I was taught to disassociate and discriminate, hate began to grow inside me. When at the age of 12, the church my family attended began to bus black people into the services, my family left the church. I believed black people were not same as white people. During these years, I formed a cultural lens which I realize can still color the way I view people, even today.
In 1974, I was 16 years old and got a job with the Parks and Recreations Department. I was assigned to the very same school where I went to Jr. High. I spent the summer serving the black community I felt had victimized me, and it was very confusing. But I began to see things differently; I began to see people through a lens of relationships. Back at high school, I quickly forgot what I had learned as I finished the last two years of school, feeling terrorized by more riots and and driven to deeper wedges of segregation.
At 19 years old, I became overwhelmed by the Spirit of God drawing me to Himself, and a personal relationship with Him began in December of that year. In 1980, I moved to Birmingham where I started Bible College and began seeking and looking for a new lens through which to see life. After so many years of discrimination and hate, a long journey began to find wholeness in Christ and see things His way.
In 1984, I moved to Chicago to work in the inner city. During the very first week I was there, a black man broke in a robbed me in my home. I was in shock because I was the “great white hope” there to help them! So I lost hope early on in my ministry in Chicago. But in that intense clash of culture and race, I was confronted with my hate and discrimination head on. I was challenged with scripture and by people who I viewed as so different from me. I began to see that my cultural lens did not reflect what the scriptures were teaching. It was not about division and walls, but about harmony, unity and the Kingdom of God.
I had been formally trained in the scriptures and had plenty of head-knowledge, but I also had 20+ years of life experience that I now had to confront in my own heart. My heart needed to change. I had to seriously ask myself, “How does Christ see people?” I began to see the world in all of its colors and that God’s image of man, who He created, was beautiful. God is not color-blind. He created the vast diversity of man in His unimaginable image and likeness. The lens of scriptures reveals the beauty of how God made man. My lens of culture, family history and personal experience has had to come into focus with His Kingdom lens.
I know this is a big conversation, but I am willing to broach it for the sake of unity in the Body of Christ, and to discover together how to be a light in a dark world. My prayer and our prayer together as believers should be, “Lord conform me into Your image and likeness today here on earth as it will be in heaven. I pray You will clearly guide me by the Power of Your word to see culture and people with the values of Your Kingdom. Lord change my lens daily from my way to your way. Lord, I know your heart breaks for our country. Lord, as Colossians reads, let your words in all their richness, live in my heart and live out in my daily life. Amen.”
