Three Ways To Help Our Kids Fight Racism

by Ryan Smith | Oct 31, 2017

I have a five-year-old boy.

For any of you who have five-year-old boys, have had five-year-old boys, or have been around five-year-old boys, you understand why I lead off an article about racism with this necessary information.

Around the age of 4, kids begin to notice the world around them through verbal comparison and contrast. This can be a great thing, but as any parent will tell you, it can also put you in some very uncomfortable situations.

Still, there is a degree of innocence and world-view shaping at this pivotal stage of life that can be vitally important for us as parents to lean into rather than run from.

One of the things children verbally begin to observe at this stage is varying colors of people’s skin. I distinctly remember the first time my son came home and told me about the kids he had been playing with earlier that day. Completely unprovoked and out of the blue, he told me one of his friends “…has black skin, but I have light brown skin.”

I froze.

My son had no idea what kind of a cultural land mine he had inadvertently stepped on. I immediately wanted to sit him down, talk about the Civil Rights Movement, the evils of racism, and the horrible atrocities committed over centuries of ignorance and senselessness. I wanted to flood his heart with a fire-hydrant of American history, modern conversations of protest, and make him listen to old-school DC Talk.

I wanted to fight an entire culture war on the battlefield of my son’s little heart.

What I said instead was, “That’s good. Isn’t it great how God gives us all different kinds of skin color, eye color, hair color, but we’re all still the same and He loves us. What a creative God!”

It seemed trite and incomplete, but for him it pacified a situation he didn’t even know existed. For me, it took much more time in my heart and mind before I could find a degree of rest in the situation.

I hate the ugliness of racism. I hate that my son will grow up in a world stained by terminology and actions – intentional and unintentional – that will hurt others and cause him to wrestle with thoughts in his own mind and among his peers.

I hate it. But I can’t ignore it.

While there is much I cannot do, there are some things I have determined to do as a parent to help my son grow up to be a man who understands human dignity, the brotherhood of all mankind, the image of God in human beings, and the unity in diversity we find at the cross of Jesus Christ through the Gospel.

Here are three things I’m trying to do to help my kids fight racism.

1) Don’t avoid the topic.

Conversations about race and racism can be awkward. They can be even more awkward when your kid loudly brings up the topic in the middle of a grocery store (…or so I’ve read…). The immediate desire is to stop the conversation, try to preserve the innocence and hope our children grow up to appreciate the diversities of all peoples and cultures in a fairytale mode of autopilot.

But avoiding the topic of racism will not help our kids avoid the topic of racism. It will simply send the signal that it is something off limits or taboo with mom or dad.

When my son asks a question about skin color, I am trying to embrace the moment rather than run from it. I want him to know it is okay to notice differences in people, but more importantly to know what to do with these observations. Namely, I want him to give glory to a creative God, and see how differences in each of us can be opportunities to learn from and appreciate new perspectives.

I’m okay if he distinguishes the fact that other people are different from him. The conversation I want to make sure I reinforce and reinforce again is that those differences can be opportunities for unity – not division. I want him to know we love one another not just despite our differences, but even because of our differences.

2) Encourage social diversity.

Kids are great in that they are willing to ask people questions and learn from their answers. We adults could learn a thing or two from that paradigm. The more diversity your child is introduced to at a young age, the more knowledge they will gain from a more diverse set of people (black, white, old, young, rich, poor).

It’s great for kids to have friends who are like them in many ways, but what great opportunities we as parents can afford our children by giving them a broader spectrum to learn from. Before someone can tell them an ignorant lie about people with a different skin tone, let them experientially learn the truth. Give them faces and names to put with concepts and prepare them to have their minds made up about race before someone else can sway it for them.

3) Again and again return to the Gospel in God’s Word.

Your local church should be one of the best weapons in fighting racism among your children. Continually reinforce that church is not just an organization, or a place, it is a people – people united under the banner of Jesus Christ.

Let them see you interacting with and learning from older people, younger people, dark-skinned people, light-skinned people, rich people, poor people, socially awkward people and even people who may have hurt you.

The more you read the Bible with your children and are introduced to the horrors of sin, slavery, ethnocentrism and more, the more you will have opportunity to highlight the words of Paul calling for unity between races. You will see the diversity of the church. You will see Jesus’s heart for all people, and you will find a level ground at the foot of the cross that calls sin what it is and points to a resurrected Savior who has overcome this world.

We cannot shelter our kids forever. It may not even be best for them for us to do so. Rather than shield them from every aspect of sin they will encounter in this world, let us equip them with the gospel and God’s Word in advance so they are prepared to fight whatever battle may come their way.

Let us pray for our children. Let us pray for our churches and contend for truth. Let us thank God in Christ for the Gospel. And let us lead the way in fighting racism in our homes and communities.

Why God’s Design For Sex Is Still Good

by Ryan Smith | Oct 24, 2017

There is a very distinct memory I have from my childhood.

Every night after the hugs were given, the prayers were prayed and the nightlight established its watch, before I could drift off to whatever faraway place my dreams would take me, I waited to hear one sound.

Before going to bed himself, my father would walk to every outside door and check to make sure the locks were secure. It may seem a strange thing to remember – just footsteps and a few brief clicks. But to me, it was security. It meant I was safe. It meant my father was watching over his house and protecting it. It meant I was home.

In some strange way, that’s how I feel when I read the first two chapters of Genesis. The Bible opens with an introduction: “In the beginning, God.” And the first things we are told about this God are that He is a God of power, order and goodness.

God calls out and brings what is from what is not.

God separates and orders His creation with boundaries and definitions.

God’s creation was good.

With each of these statements in the opening chapter of Genesis, in the depths of my soul what I hear are the echoes of footsteps and clicking locks. God is sovereign, and He is good. In His sovereignty and goodness, He has established order. He has established a home. He has separated light from dark.

Nowhere is this more apparent to me than in the closing narrative of Genesis 2 – particularly verse 24: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” God establishes a home. God creates a covenant. And the two become one flesh within that covenant.

This is the sexual ethic. It is not just God’s version of sex or the pre-modern ethic of under-informed days gone by. This is how sex is designed. This is how the marriage union works. It is how the building block of society is founded and flourishes. It is our God giving us a home.

We live in a world where we like God’s power and His goodness, but we are not so crazy about His boundaries. We don’t like definitions. We kick against imposed order. Unless they are our order, our definitions, our boundaries, we reject the idea of goodness and cry “oppression!” at the weight of power.

This is society’s modern approach to marriage and sexual ethics. The voices champion freedom of sexuality as a crown of individuality. When it comes to sex, the who, what, when and why has no boundary. It has no order.

It is commonly stated that Jesus never said anything about defined areas of sexual immorality. He never condemned practicing homosexuality, “throuples” or gave an acceptable age for sex.

That is true.

What Jesus did do, however, in an age of promiscuity and vast sexual brokenness was not point to an infinite list of wrongs, but, again, hold up what was right.  When asked questions about the abuse of the marriage covenant, Jesus pointed back to Genesis 2:24. “Have you not read…?”

When Paul reasoned for the worshipful and right relationship between a husband and wife, he was not deterred by tangential arguments or proposed re-definitions. Rather he again upheld the unchanged design and standard.

It was not a debate over validity and definition of what was outside the sexual boundaries God created. It was a reaffirmation of the order and definition God gave from the beginning and a reminder that it was good.

In the same way, my father never lectured me on each and every danger or possibility awaiting me in the night away from the security of my home. He simply secured the home.

When the Bible speaks about sexual immorality, it is, in essence, using a broad brush to describe a world outside the safety, security and goodness of what is right – what is true.

As a boy, were there temptations to escape the confines of my home? Did the rebellious heart within me want to open those locks, slip quietly into the night and explore the world outside? Of course.  It might even have been fun…for a while.

But did I? No. Why? Not because I thought my father was a burdensome legalist, but because I loved the home within those doors, and I trusted my father. I loved the safety and security that each of those locks represented. I knew what was home and what was not. There I could rest. There my father was presiding for my good.

God’s plan, design and goodness for sex within the covenant marital relationship of one man and one woman for life have not changed. The haven of the home is still defined by boundaries and order. God still intends for us to find the joy, security and fullness of His design within the definition of that home. For every clicked lock of a no, there are a thousand yeses within God’s good design.

As we hear the clicking locks that sound like cannon fire in a culture war, let us remember – God has not given us over to slavery in setting up walls, rather He has confirmed our adoption as sons and daughters by giving us a home with boundaries.

We can trust God and the boundaries of the home He has established.

God is still powerful.

God is still a God of order.

God’s design for sex is still good.

The Twitterized Bible

by Ryan Smith | Sep 21, 2017

You may not actually be reading this blog.

Here’s what I mean:

The digital revolution has changed the way we process information. Reading on digital devices (phones, tablets, computers, etc.) has become the virtual norm for most people. These devices are quick. They connect us. They offer distraction and fill in the gaps.

Within a matter of seconds we can learn a wide variety of facts, opinions and news from first-hand eyewitnesses across the world as well as those next door.

What’s the President doing? I can know in less than two clicks of a button.

Who won a cricket match in Lebanon? Three clicks.

Do they have cricket in Lebanon? Zero clicks – just ask Siri.

As reading has largely become digitized, another phenomenon has materialized. While we may be reading more than ever, we are actually reading less.

By “less,” I mean our ability to sit with and comprehend the written word has diminished. In large part, this is because of the massive amount of bite-sized information we ask our minds to process each day. In order to keep up, our brains are programmed to skim, pick up keywords and find 140 character sentences we can share with others instantly.

This is why online articles and blogs are becoming shorter. Even paragraphs are smaller. Key thesis statements come pre-bolded and ready to share online with a single click.

Writers know they have less time to hold our attention, and what we are often looking for is not just information but expedient information.

We are a society of skimmers. We read much, but actually read less. We have moved from reading chapters to reading sections of chapters. Instead of sections, we read paragraphs. Instead of paragraphs, we read sentences. Instead of sentences, we read memes. Instead of memes, we just post emojis.

When we digest the written word in 140 characters or less, written works that do not fit that paradigm must be either changed, altered, or go the way of the buffalo.

As society becomes more and more immune to large portions of copy, what is the result?  What about works that cannot be changed? What about those that should not be changed – those that are telling a bigger story?

What about the Bible?

While the modern church would not think of changing the Scripture, we have certainly changed how we digest it. The majority of our reading plans or daily studies are broken up into bite-sized digestible morsels meant to allow us to be able to actually read the Bible, but do so in a way that accommodates our busy lifestyles or doesn’t offend our modern appetites for smaller, less intimidating portions of text.

We like the Bible quick. We like it expedient. We like small portions with big impact.

In essence, we like a twitterized Bible.

I’ll admit that as I read my Bible, instead of thinking “What does this mean?” I often find myself thinking, “How could I tweet this?” or, “How much more do I have to go until I’ve reached today’s goal?”

My mind has been trained to think in short bursts of thought. I am much more interested in finding a flashy phrase than contemplating a cumulative and cohesive idea.

It is easier for me to check the box on reading a chapter of the Bible than ask myself if I have really read the Bible that day in the way it was intended for God’s glory and my good.

As a modern culture struggling to digest large amounts of text, it seems we are increasingly relying on chapters and verses as goals rather than complete thoughts, stories or compositions.

We read a chapter at a time. We read a verse at a time. We read part of a verse. We set goals based off units and sections.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, but we must recognize this is not how the Bible is given to us.

God’s Word is not meant to be skimmed. In fact, I would argue that it cannot be merely skimmed and thoroughly understood. You cannot simply pre-bold the good parts of the Bible and ignore the rest. God’s Word must be seen, savored, considered and ingested. In fact, God told Ezekiel (Ezek. 3:1) and John (Rev. 10:9) to literally eat His Word.

Is His call different to us today?

If we are going to be people of the Word, we are going to have to read the Bible counter-culturally. We are going to have to fight for our mind’s focus, attention, and read in ways that serve not us but the Word itself.

The time, environment and pace we use to read God’s Word must allow for prayer, contemplation, thought and investment.

I’m not saying we have to spend hours every day locked in a Wi-Fi-free basement in order to please God. We should, however, question how our reading habits serve our reading comprehension – particularly when it comes to God’s Word.

We may need to make adjustments in our Bible studies, devotionals or even ways we read the Scripture in order to not only skim it and check a box, but to read it and understand.

We must read the Bible like we read nothing else because nothing else we read is like the Bible.

You can tweet that.