Where's the hope amid violence?
You may ask yourself, “Where’s the hope”?
The news is full of people who are dead set on tearing each other apart, and all too often, so are our communities, churches and even families. Society tells us we must pick a side. Sometimes we just feel lost.
Thank God! Easter is right around the corner, and with it comes an annual reminder that we have a reason to hope. We have a reason to hope that violence will end and the division will cease, and most assuredly, the lost will be found.
Despite our persistent shortcomings as an innately lost society and individuals, Jesus made a way through His death, burial, and resurrection for His children to be found. The love of God seeks out everyone, regardless of their color, class, or culture. This Easter truth is our hope. And when we are found by God, we can play a part in bringing that glorious hope to a lost world.
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Our new identity in Christ empowers us to join our brothers and sisters in the faith and spread this Gospel news as we “maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). Jesus’ burden for us becomes our burden for the world, and our united desire should be to see the lost coming home.
This new hope-filled identity also transforms our understanding of our own value and the value of others as image-bearers of God. We can see ourselves through His eyes — ambassadors of reconciliation, as though Christ Jesus were making His appeal through us to the world, as Paul shares in 2 Corinthians 5:20. We can make this appeal by showing the same unmerited favor Christ shows us to others regardless of, and sometimes because of, their color, class or culture — this is a concept I call Gracism.
Gracists show the physically, spiritually, ethnically, and socially homeless that they have a home in Christ. They lay aside their biases and preconceived notions to lift up and stand by others, to honor and celebrate them no matter how different they may be. Gracists cover the faults of their neighbors; they don’t put them on display for the world to see and judge. They consider others’ perspectives and desires, and they share their networks and resources with them. Gracists show the lost that they have a reason to hope, in spite of the seemingly hopeless circumstances around them.
Those who don’t know Christ can learn that when they receive His grace, they can be made new — with a new family, a new home and a new hope in Him.
This Easter season, instead of giving into the pressure to pick sides amid division and devastation, cling to the hope Christ so freely gives to those who have a home in Him. Choose to cling to it and spread it — remember your mission to extend that hope on the earth as it is in Heaven. Fellow image-bearers are hurting; too many of our brothers and sisters are targets of discrimination simply because of color, class or culture. But when we embrace Gracism, we can help thwart these attacks and partner with Christ as he restores our hope and prepares our home with Him.
His unmerited favor never runs out, and our annual celebration of Christ’s resurrection is the perfect moment to share it.
Dr. David Anderson is a pastor, author, and founder and president of Gracism Global.
