GOD IS ABLE! CRISIS-CHAOS-CHRIST
Well, we’re one month into 2021, and God is still able! Things happened in 2020 that have never happened before. In anticipation of better days ahead, I’m certain we all eagerly waited with bated breath as December 31, 2020 faded into January 1, 2021. Now we find ourselves in the month of February—the beginning of Black History Month and the month of love. Curiously, what comes to my mind is the Children of Israel entering into the wilderness in the book of Exodus, and how they overcame and crossed into the Promised Land. At the beginning of the year Apostle started the Overcomers series to remind us that as the Body of Christ, we WIN, we are Overcomers, and Well Able to possess ALL that God has for us. Clearly, the similarities of their journey reflects our present-day crisis and chaos and demonstrates that God is still able!
Metaphorically speaking, the 400-year mandate God gave to Abram in Genesis 15:13-14 can be compared to the 400-year anniversary of African Americans entering the U.S. and the racial injustice surfacing in the U.S. today, and the special significance of Black History Month this year. “Then He [God] said to Abram: “13 Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”
YES, E-Fam OUR TIME HAS COME TO OVERCOME!
Just like the Children of Israel, after 400 years of oppression and 40 years of roaming, 2021’s Black History Month is more significant than ever before because we are literally living through history in the making. Let us not forget that it was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who when asked, “how long will it be before (we) see social justice?” responded, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Hundreds of years from now, in Black History Months to come, people will celebrate the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and those who gave their lives in sacrifice of advancing the cause. (Say their names: Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others.) History will also note that Kamala Harris was the first Black, female elected to the office of the Vice President of the United States.
Yes, our country is still in crisis and chaos. We are still in the throws of a pandemic that to date has taken the lives of more than four hundred thousand people. Our government is in political chaos and financial uncertainty, yet God is able and His Word is still true! Just as God promised Abram better days were coming, we too must believe God’s promise to Abram is still valid today just as it was for the Israelites. It is our time to come out with great possessions! After all the crisis and chaos, with the help and hope of Christ, WE STILL WIN!
February is also the month we celebrate love! In the midst of crisis and chaos, let’s stop and take a moment to recognize the greatest love of all, the love of God! “For God so LOVED the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are, and always will be, symbolic of God’s love for us. Scholars explain that God sent Christ in love to negotiate a peace between heaven and Earth. That whosoever believes in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life. As believers, we are called to demonstrate the love of Christ not by physical death on a cross, but by dying to sin and allowing God’s will to be done in our lives (see Romans 6:1-14).
This year, as we celebrate Black History Month, I invite you to continue to bend the arc of justice in the struggle toward equality and freedom and exhibit the love of Christ in your daily life.
Cheryl Wilson
VKMI eBlogger
Post in the comments below examples of how we can advance the cause of social justice, while at the same time demonstrating the love of Christ during Black History Month.