Violence is extreme arrogance. It pretends it has the right to hurt people. Human violence almost always causes more injustice than it solves. Both prenatal and postnatal violence are cruel.
Temptation is the “human race” bate, luring us into pride, divisiveness, and injustice. Unkind words from our own citizens, may be the greatest, current threat to America. Outward hostility is a poor substitute for the lack of inner strength.
Christians are called to humility: To love the people on both sides of an argument. Be beneficial. Help heal the hurt and hostility in our land. To resist humility is to work against God.
Play the “human race” card. Embrace all people as your equal. There is much unfairness in the world; try not to be the cause of even more. (Do you want to be treated the way you treat the people you least respect?) Unfairness is often well camouflaged. Sometimes we lack compassion because we’re unwilling to see someone’s pain.
We’ve all been treated unfairly in various degrees, but all unfairness isn’t equal. Bad things come to those who hate (bitterness eventually consumes them).
The Christian answer to racial conflict should be love. Race as a divisive feature of mankind is artificial. History reveals it as manmade. When humans declared superficial skin color to be significant, we unleashed much pain.
Refusing to try to understand someone’s viewpoint is the beginning of unfairness. Too many people want to overpower others. I want a world where we empower each other. If we want to be heard and respected, perhaps we should listen to and respect others.
Most people aren’t intentionally unfair, but it’s so easy to be unintentionally so. Although fairness and equality can never be fully achieved in a nation, we can do better than we’ve done.
A genuine attitude of fairness goes a long way towards peace, healing, and community. It’s easy to assume that things are fair, but if we haven’t examined them with open hearts and rational minds, how do we know they are? To learn your nation’s history without prejudice, pursue it like you would study an ancient civilization long ago destroyed. By learning how atrocities were committed in history, we may be able to prevent more.
The more you make room for the living Jesus to work in your life, the greater you are in His kingdom.
