But God...

        "But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal.3:25-27)
        "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those of the household of faith." (Gal.6:9-10)
        The events of the past few weeks have been beyond heartbreaking. What a vicious, pernicious sin racism is. To think that our nation continues to confront this hideous sin of devaluing the worth of some human beings based simply upon the color of the skin. How can this be? What is wrong with the heart of mankind?  How can one human being treat another human being this way?
         And yet, what is wrong with my selfish, prideful, stubborn heart?  As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in The Gulag Archipelago, “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
          Like so many of us, I have wept to see the evil that resides in the human heart--and the horrific price that has been paid by generation after generation because of the sin of racism.  Generation after generation of African Americans hurt beyond anything I can understand (but I'm trying) but also of the countless generations of those whose hearts have been warped, twisted, and destroyed by their hatred. 
         Yet even as I want to cast stones at that sin, God shows me my own heart with its dividing line of good and evil. My lack of self-sacrificial love and compassion. My desire for my own way.  My idolatry of comfort and security. My pride. My impatience. My determined love of self.  Oh, my sin, too, is relentless and stubborn and hideous.
        But God...oh such beautiful words, "But God..." 
        "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph.2:4-9) 
        But God is rich in mercy.
        But God loves us with His great and perfect and beautiful love.
        But God saved us even when we were absolutely dead in all our hideous sin and made us alive in Christ.  Because God doesn't make bad people good...He makes dead people alive. Including you, including me.
         But God has saved us by His grace--His utterly unearned, utterly undeserved grace--and raised us up to the heavenly places with Christ to show us the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness.  God's immeasurable riches--I cannot even begin to fathom this...but oh how thankful I am...
        ...and humbled because it has absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing to do with my worth or ability or performance.  It's all by His unmerited, underserved, amazing grace. Which means no one can boast. Not Billy Graham or Tim Keller or Ann Lotz or the most godly person you or I know.  And most certainly not me!  Oh mercy, definitely not me.
          Yes, it feels an awful lot like our world right now is on fire. The problems seem impossibly  difficult, the pain immeasurably deep, the anger and fear frighteningly great...but God.
           Not us, but God.
           Now is the time to listen.  To learn. To seek to understand more than to be understood. To weep with those who weep. And to pray, to trust, to hold up our empty hands to the sovereign King and Kings and admit, "we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” (II Chron.20:12)
         Lord, we don't know what to do, but our eyes finally, finally are fixed on You. You alone. You are able. You took the sin and pain and hatred and racism of all the world upon Yourself, Lord Jesus, and You conquered every bit of it at the cross.  So we look to You. We trust You. We depend upon You. We ask You to cleanse us, to help us, to lead us, to teach us, to equip us, to shine Your light and love through us. May we be vessels of Your grace, forgiveness, hope, and sacrificial love to the world around us. Help us not to become weary in doing good in the hard, holy days ahead but to keep our eyes fastened on You as we run this race ahead of us, all by Your grace all to Your glory.
         How we praise You that even for the worst of our sins, we can loudly proclaim "But God..."
         To God, to our Savior Jesus who is the Way-Maker, the Reconciler, the Redeemer, be all the glory forever and ever. Amen.