Overcoming Prejudice - Free-Flowing Grace

In this short series on overcoming prejudice I have spent a lot of time looking at the example Jesus gave us. It should be clear, by the amount of time and effort Jesus spent bringing the unseen people of society into the sight of everyone, that prejudice is not part of the Kingdom. This means it should not be part of the Church if the Church is the representation of God's Kingdom on earth. But telling someone they should not be prejudice is the same as telling someone they have to love or they have to forgive. Laws and commands do not change hearts. 

There should be no prejudice in the Body of Christ. Everyone should love and respect their neighbour. We should honour everyone. But just because Father said it does not mean his children will do it. Perfect obedience is only born from perfect love, and we are still learning, growing and maturing. 

Then what do we do?

The beginning point is desire. I want to love. I want to obey. I want to respect. I want to honour. Even if I am falling short. Desire will give birth to honesty, where we can confess these failings. These honest confessions open us to where we are willing to hear the Spirit, accept his convictions and surrender what we are powerless to change. This is a life long process as the Spirit is changing us, conforming us, with our cooperation, to be like Jesus.

I am going to end this series with a portion of scripture my friends and I have been meditating on this week. It comes from Paul's final letter to Timothy. He writes to Timothy:

"Live your life empowered by God's free-flowing grace, which is your true strength, found in the anointing of Jesus and your union with him." 2 Timothy 2:1

Until we recognize that we can do nothing outside of Jesus we will continue to fall short of the fullness we have been called to in Jesus. It is by grace that we were rescued from our life of rebellion. It is by grace that we were adopted. It is by grace that we were invited to enter the Kingdom. It is by grace that we have been called to represent Jesus to the world. So why would we think we would have to find our own way to live it? Crazy thoughts.

Live your life empowered by God's free-flowing grace. Freely we have received so freely we give. Freely we have received grace so freely we give it out. No one has to live up to my expectations in order to be loved by me. No one has to conform to my standards to be honoured by me. No one needs to earn my respect to receive my respect.

I did not deserve Father's love. I did not merit Jesus' death on the cross. I did not earn the gift of Holy Spirit. These were all acts and gifts of mercy and grace, flowing from Father's heart of love. This is how I am empowered by God's free flowing grace to love, respect and honour every person of every gender, culture and colour. It is not about humanity. It is not about my opinion. It is not about feeling good. It is not about world peace. It is not about being well thought of. It is about my Father's heart, his will and his desire. The source of this grace is not found in me. It is God's free flowing grace.

How do I overcome? I understand Father's desire by Jesus' actions. I see how much he loves me and everyone else. I choose to accept his love. It is love that empowers me to obey him. And when I find something that is not aligned with him I surrender it to him. Spirit is then able to overwrite that thing with Father's heart and I find in this relationship that I am empowered by God's free flowing grace to live out his heart.

This is what it is suppose to look like, and if it doesn't, we have some growing up to do.