You may wonder why I am reliving this memory nearly 27 years later. Trust me, I relive that event in my mind at least briefly every single day of every single year since that day. It was, for me, a life changing event. Driving down Georgia Highway 400 from Cumming back to Atlanta that day, I had to pull my car over. I got out of my car and prayed. I was only 22 years old, but I prayed like I had never prayed before! For nearly an hour, kneeled down beside me car, I prayed. I begged God to purge me of any prejudiced bone I may have in my body. I vowed to never tell a racist joke again. I vowed to judge a man by his character, not his skin color.
Although I had accepted Christ into my heart a little more than four years earlier, I have never been as close to Christ as I was that night just outside of Cumming, Georgia. I literally felt Jesus hold me in His arms, and hug me tight. I was cleansed.
In 2005, I got to spend some time with Bill Willis, a former Buckeye and Cleveland Brown. He helped break the color barrier in the NFL in 1946 when joining the NFL, a whole year before Jackie Robinson did so in baseball. We talked for several hours about what it was like to be a black man playing in the NCAA and NFL back in the late 40's and early 50's. Yes, many away games, he had to sit in a separate train car, some hotels in cities of the opponents wouldn't allow him to stay in their hotel. Much of the stories you've heard, especially in movies such as "The Express", about Ernie Davis. But I asked him a question that I wasn't really prepared to hear his answer. I asked him, "What is the biggest difference in people's hearts between back then and now?" His answer, "Nothing at all." He went on to share that white people today don't typically show their prejudices outwardly, but the prejudices still exist as much as they did back then. Mr. Willis then asked me which neighborhood I lived in, and when I told him, he was a bit shocked, since I was living just off Cleveland Avenue in a pretty rough part of town at that time. But he went on to make a point that all across America, we still have black churches, and white churches. We still have black neighborhoods, and white neighborhoods. Go to any restaurant, and you'll see blacks eating with blacks, and whites eating with whites.
I have no doubt that each and every friend I have is not prejudiced at all. Or at least, that is what each person would tell me. However, what do your actions show? When you see a person of a different race, do you see their race, or do you see an individual? Be honest with yourself. And pray. Ask God to cleanse you from any and every sin in your life, even those you are unaware of. What will you do, if when you get to Heaven, the Pearly Gates are opened, and when Jesus opens the door to welcome you, you see He's black? What will you do? What will you say to Him? What will He say to you?
What does the Bible say about racism? Let's take a look:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." ... Galatians 3:28
"Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." ... John 7:24
"For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him." ... Romans 10:12
"Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.: 1 John 2:9
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." ... Genesis 1:27
"But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors" ... James 2:9
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." ... John 13:34
"For God shows no partiality." ... Romans 2:11
"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit." ... 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
"And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all." ... Colossians 3:10-11
"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." ... Matthew 7:12
"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands" ... Revelation 7:9
"So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." ... Acts 10:34-35
"Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him." ... Ephesians 6:9
"And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?" ... Luke 10:25-37
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." ... John 3:16-17
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