Dear Christians,
How are you? I hope you don’t have the audacity to say you are doing OK. We are living in very scary times. I wonder if the ones I am writing to are the ones Jesus knows by name. Do you remember what made you become a Christian? You were sad and empty. You were angry and abandoned. You felt unworthy of love. You could not count on those closest to you. Your family and friends failed you at some point. Your significant other broke your heart. You were a slave to an addiction. You were bullied and picked on. It seemed like nobody wanted you. It seemed like no one understood you. It seemed like you were always going to be the weird, persecuted and ostracized one. But then Jesus welcomed you in his arms. He showed you a love like no other. He made you realize and understand that you were not an outcast; in fact, you are royalty. It doesn’t get any better than that. He was also faithful to you and promised you he would never leave you or forsake you. He hasn’t left you ever since you gave your life to him, even when you did at times. In addition to this, Jesus gave you guidelines so that you get to keep this freedom. He washed you in His blood, gave you a new identity, inspired 66 books and gave you his Holy Spirit. Now you get to be free forever, even eternity. The most amazing thing is that you get to tell everyone about Him. Even better, you get to show people. You can be like Jesus wherever you go. You have the Bible and the Holy Spirit. You have your own testimony. You can love with a supernatural love. You can have supernatural peace. You can have supernatural wisdom, strength and courage. Christ indwells in you and He is stronger than he who is in the world.
If you have agreed with everything I have written so far, why are you acting so un-Christlike in the face of what is happening in America? Do you remember what happened to the people of Israel when they turned away from God? You cannot think that all of these things are happening “just because.” You know that our God is a holy God and that evil cannot stand in His presence. All of the shootings and tragedies are a result of the actions of an unrepentant people. The Word of God says:
"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
You have to ask yourself if you are his people called by his name. If you are, Jesus is calling you to humble yourself. When you act like you know everything, you are not humbling yourself. When hate against our President is in your mouth, you are not humbling yourself. When you show pride in your subculture, whatever it represents -- White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.-- you are not humbling yourself. You are showing yourself more ethnically bound than Christ bound. When you reject the LGBTQ community, you are being un-Christlike. You need to stop bringing shame to the name of Christ if you are not going to love them. When you are silent when a police officer shoots a man pinned down to the ground, you are being un-Christlike. The Word says to speak for those who can't speak for themselves (Proverbs 3:8-9). When you say that Black lives matter but you don’t pray for those Black lives, you are being un-Christlike. When you say that Blue lives matter but don’t pray for those blue lives, you are being un-Christlike. When you advocate for one community, whichever it is, and you don’t advocate for the other, you are being un-Christlike, because Christ loves everyone. You need to humble yourself. I need to humble myself.
I am a disciple of Jesus before I am anything else. I am Dominican but Christ comes first. I am also an American but Christ comes first. I am a woman but Christ comes first. I hate injustice but Christ comes first. I follow this God I am utterly in love with. I want to be like him. I need to be like Him. I want to advocate for righteousness, but the righteousness that comes from God. This righteousness calls me to pray. If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray. I need to humble myself and pray. You need to humble yourself and pray. There is no other way. This is the only way our land will be healed.
The first Church experienced extreme persecution. They were stoned, mutilated and tortured. Their families were killed and they were put in jail. If you want to talk about injustices, look at the first Church. But, what did the first Church do? Did the first Christians talk bad about Caesar or protest outside his house? Did they try to change the law so that Caesar would be overthrown because he wasn’t a believer? No. These Christians prayed. Their faces were turned toward God. They were more united than ever, even though they still had disagreements among them. They prayed, they fasted and they stayed together. They continued to preach the gospel powerfully and for them it was a privilege to suffer for Christ. What are we doing? We are looking at the government as if they can do something for us. No. Only Christ can do something for us. It is time to repent as a nation. Turn from our wicked ways. It is time to pray. It is time to stop judging other Christians. It is time to welcome and love everyone like Christ did. It is time for change.
The book of Ecclesiastes says there is a time for everything. Right now, it is a time for mourning. But if we, who are called by his name, will humble ourselves and pray, seek his face and turn from our wicked ways, He will come from heaven and heal our land. He will turn our mourning into dancing. If you don’t want to do this, you are not His people. In the same way you ignore the innocent lives that have died, our God will also ignore you who have him in your mouths yet your hearts are far away from Him.
Can we pray for church? Can we repent? Our God is calling us to turn our hearts toward Him. Let’s repent. Let’s return to our First love. Let’s be One with God and One with one another. Let’s be the Church we are called to be.
Sincerely,
A small minuscule part of your Body.
