I know that I am pale.
It doesn’t matter how much my freckles try to hide it, I’m about as white as you can be. Spending this month at ten degrees latitude does not make pale seem like a strength.
Then we walked into the villages. Many of the people we minister to haven’t seen a white person before (let alone a red head). Maybe it’s the history of British rule (Indian independence is only 63 years old), maybe it’s the disparity between First and Third World cultures, or maybe it’s the desperation of a people searching for truth that they will settle to worship anything.
Many people we’ve encountered carry a white Savior mentality.
They see my skin and think that I have some sort of power, that my prayers are heard better, and no one in the villages will refuse a blessing. I remember the first advertisement I saw for a skin product that claims to make the user’s complexion whiter. I remember the multitude of those advertisements I’ve seen since. I wonder to myself if of these people have ever had a sunburn.
Welcome to the place where truth has gotten tangled.
In a way, the villagers are right. We have power, extraordinary, sensational, life transforming power. The very same Spirit which raised Christ from the dead lives in us—but it has nothing to do with our skin color. It has a whole lot to do with our spiritual identity; whether we have the courage to believe what God says about us. I’m finding that “having faith” in American culture pretty much means whether or not you believe God exists. While that may seem like a safe place to camp out, I think God intends for “having faith” to mean so much more to us—to “have faith” on a trust level.
Believing that God exists or doesn’t exist still leaves us as spiritual orphans.
I can know that Christ died for my sins and because of that He welcomes me into His family;
But I’m still living like an orphan if/when I fail to recognize Him as God MY Father.
I’m still living like an orphan, if/when I don’t to believe I have the power of God (through His Spirit) inside me.
It’s not just spiritual sonship. It’s family.
I’m not an orphan. If you have accepted Christ, neither are you! Don’t be convinced of anything otherwise.
It has been such a joy to pray for people this month. We’ve prayed for all types of people from pastors to those with polio, from the wounded to the comfortable. It’s all good but the best thing for me has been to embrace the joy that comes with being graciously, unconditionally accepted as a member of God’s family and to welcome others into this same truth.
During one service, we stepped into the background and invited the church members to pray for one another, to bless one another. This is because any power, any authority, that we have access to they do as well.
And so do you.
