ONESample

Gary Frost

National Director, March for Jesus

"There is a passage of scripture that’s captured my heart from the earliest days of my ministry. Paul said, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” In that Ephesian letter, Paul was reminding the church at Ephesus of the importance of their unity. And it says you need to “endeavor” to keep it, in other words, it can slip away. Just like in marriage, a couple has to work on it – they have to continue to endeavor to keep that unity of communication and relationship and keep updated with their apologies and forgiveness.

You know these racial tensions that we are experiencing, of course, they ebb and flow, and we are at the height of it now in light of George Floyd's death. But it’s really brought to light some things that are out of place that need to be put in place. At that the same time we find that there are people who have taken, and I’ll say “highjacked” this for their own purposes. And I believe in that context, in that atmosphere, the body of Christ has to come together, and we have to stand on Christ. We are not standing on the left or the right. In fact, when God spoke to Joshua after the death of Moses, he said, “Don’t turn to the left or the right - just follow the ark of the covenant.” Of course, the ark of the covenant is an old testament picture of Jesus Christ. And so, we are to stay focused on Jesus. 

You know, I like to say that in my marriage, we have been married for 43 years, and I haven’t changed her yet, and she hasn’t changed me. But we still love one another, and divorce isn’t an option. I heard Billy Graham make the statement that “the secret to a successful marriage is you have to have two great forgivers.” We have to learn how to forgive, and in Christ - through the atoning work of Jesus - we can forgive one another. It doesn’t solve the problem, but we stay at the table to work out the problem. And that is what excites me about the possibility of this, of the body of Christ coming together at a time like this. Because there are real issues that need to be talked through and worked through. Policies perhaps need to be changed. But as the body of Christ, we can come and disagree and still get along, and we can still love one another. We can be the type of model that the world can look at and see what it means to have unity, oneness, forgiveness, and love. The bible says, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples that you have love one for another. 

...And in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul wrote, “Let all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”. So, in other words, the forgiveness that we need to demonstrate is not based upon someone earning it - it’s not merits - it's based upon grace! God forgave me by grace, hallelujah! I didn’t have to pay my way; Christ paid my way. Since I was forgiven by grace, I need to forgive by grace. The grace message is so important at a time like this."... watch the video for the full interview.

Once you watch the video and read the bible references, spend time with the Lord reflecting on the following:

·  Within the Church, what do you think racial reconciliation should look like?

·  What role do you and your local church play in that process?

·  How does grace and/or forgiveness factor into racial and denominational reconciliation?