When I started my educational journey back when dinosaur tracks were still fresh on the ground, integration was also relatively fresh. Though I was surrounded occasionally by racism, I never bought into it. Perhaps I found no need to classify people on the basis of color because I spent many hours riding shotgun with my insurance-peddling dad.
He didn’t sell it like most salesmen who were looking to sell policies with higher premiums because they offered higher commissions. My dad sold insurance, but he also hated it. He felt it was sometimes used to take advantage of people. He would often talk customers out of the expensive policies so that he could save them money. My dad did this for everyone, regardless of their color. What was right for some was right for all.
Learning this lesson early marked my outlook forever. Added to that was my family’s passion for basketball. The Madison High School Cougars would take to the hardwood, led by their fearless leader, Buck Christmas. My heart pounded with excitement at the tip-off of each game.
I discovered that my African American friends were far more passionate about the sport. Mostly, they all sat on the right side of the gym, so that’s where I headed, happily unencumbered by skin tone differences. I took occasional abuse for that decision, but I stayed the course because I also discovered that these sports enthusiasts loved me as their own family. It seems they were too busy accepting me to notice my skin color.
It’s no wonder that it has taken the Church centuries to get a grip on the acceptance that Jesus offers to all by way of His cross. Petty things like race, status and the approval of others has caused a divide that has blinded believers to the depth of God’s grace and compassion. However, God has never been blinded by any of our foolishness, and He is still on course as He reveals Himself to the humble and hurting, accepting all who turn to Him.
I got to see this grace and compassion play out at a recent church service where I was speaking. I remarked to my wife how uncomfortable I was with the message, feeling it wasn’t the right time for it, so I scrapped it and started sharing my story of how God showed up for me in one of my moments of hopeless despair (I’ve had a few).
The Lord’s presence began to fill the room and I suddenly knew that I was now on track with the message that God intended. As I left, a teary-eyed young lady, face flushed to a soft red glow, approached and kept repeating, “I got it!” Her excitement caused me to inquire as to what she got. “I understand radical acceptance now, and it’s mine!,” she said. “I was molested as a young child and I have never been able to really move beyond that experience. But, now I can!”
Understanding that God can love us through any degree of darkness and actually repair what is broken in us is a life-altering event. Just as I am thrilled for this lady whose eyes have been opened to this truth, I am saddened for those who “know” it but never experience it for themselves. They may have mistaken grace as a pass for their fallen condition, rather than the ladder out of it that it so marvelously is. The grace of God isn’t meant to tolerate our chains but to obliterate them.
I’m beginning to love those moments when I approach a pulpit feeling totally clueless. It reminds me that the best of preachers have nothing to offer in their own strength. For God to freely move, sometime we need to get out of the way.
I am certain that radical acceptance is a much-needed application in the world today. So much evil has found its way into our lives that finding the goodness of God can seem out of reach, but God has long arms and a memory that relies on the work of the cross when he thinks of us.
Dare to believe that God wants to reach you wherever you are. He can make right what we or others have made wretched. He is ever lifting us out of the miry clay and molding us into His image. Jesus does all of the heavy lifting for those captivated by the enemy. There is nothing more freeing than the realization that you have been radically accepted by Him.
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