I’m a bit wobbly at speaking up right now because I feel unqualified, unworthy, and complicit. 

But God is not.

So we invite Him to take over this post.

***

Maybe God removed the scales from your eyes, and you’re uncomfortable and overwhelmed by your gaping need for grace & the work before you. 

We, as part of the Church, have work to do to better love our black brothers & sisters, to better bear & weep with them in pain, to better do our part. 

Where the enemy wants to divide, this can be an incredible time of healing & unity if we can keep our hearts humble and our ears open. 

If, like me, you’ve become painfully aware of your quiet complicity and indifference to racism, it’s been a time of broken repentance.

And if you’re like me, the enemy has had a heyday with you & your self-disgust. 

—The how could I? The why am I so blind? The can I ever make this right? 

Be very careful here: self-disgust can be the disease of pride quietly holding up a mirror. Weeks deep into the murky path of self-examination, you’re stuck back on yourself. 

This can’t be. This is about loving our black neighbors. This is about caring for our fellow image-bearers. We must not linger in the mirror. 

Be contrite. Tell Jesus you’re contrite. Grieve your sin. Repent. Then keep the Spirit’s ember of conviction hot by letting Him turn your eyes from your heart to the cross. He has work to do in us. 

You will work to stay humble. You will work to not forget. You will work to be a good listener. You will work to let the Spirit’s Word become deed. You will work to keep your heart ever open to the continual transformation of Jesus until He brings you home. You’re never there yet, and you’re never on your way without Jesus. 

Lord, make it so. 

If right now, this transformation feels daunting and honestly, a bit hopeless—get even more humble. Your weakness is not worth your breath. Reaching out to Christ is. He already knew. His grace is the antidote to your blinders. His grace broke you open. His grace will be the work that now takes root. If God is in this, His Hope is in this, and His Hope is in us. To despair is to make too little of God. 

So keep listening, keep reading, keep reaching out, keep learning, keep standing up, keep speaking up, keep asking God to change you, show you, use you to love your black neighbors well. 

You might bumble around. You will probably get it wrong. You might build a bridge and trip while you walk across it. Stay humble. You’re not big enough for your loving fumbles to ruin the good God wants to do. 

If Jesus is starting a work in us, He is as good as finishing that work in us.

If He opened our eyes to Himself, He can open our eyes to this.

If He unveiled unholy parts of us before, He can unveil them again. 

If He has transformed us in the past, He can transform us today. 

Keep us in this place, Father. Face to the floor, asking You for healing. 

Change us again. 

***

“My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.”

(Psalms 25:15 NIV.)

“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”

(Psalms 25:9 NIV.)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

(1 John 1:9 NIV.)

“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.”

(1 Peter 3:8 NIV.)

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 

(1 Peter 4:8 NIV.)

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

(Micah 6:8 NIV.)

“[B]eing confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 1:6 NIV.)