A couple weeks ago I preached a message from the Book of Malachi. The message was simple but very difficult for me to deliver. The major point from the message was: “Correcting injustice in the world, begins with God correcting injustice in me.“ Though it was a heavy message for me to deliver, God lifted my spirit in an amazing way as someone literally allowed God to immediately deal with the injustice in his own heart.
After the 11:00 service a man approached me and said he needed to ask me to forgive him. Immediately, I wondered what it could be. He told me that when I was introduced as the candidate for the position of Senior Teaching Pastor, he didn’t vote for me. “I am sure that many people didn’t vote for me.” I opined. So, his comment was no big revelation to me. What he said next was. He said, “You need to know why I didn’t vote for you.” I continued to listen. Because of his experiences in the past, he had developed a spirit of prejudice and racism against black people. In essence, he was saying he didn’t vote for me because I was black. He began to weep and asked me if I would forgive him. I said it wasn’t a problem. He retorted, “Listen! You don’t understand. I really need you to forgive me. I don’t want the junk of prejudice and racism spilling over into my kids’ lives. I didn’t vote for you and I was wrong. God has been and is using your preaching to impact my life.” Here is a case in point when prejudice met the word of God, and the word of God was in fact quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. Wow! To the glory of his name!
I realized what God was doing. This man heard God and was acting on what he heard. I forgave him. We hugged for a good while, weeping in each other’s arms. I was moved, humbled, and I rejoiced as I was reminded that God has me in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. God is on the move!
God, thank you for using Malachi to help us see that: Correcting injustice in the world really does begin when we let You correct injustice in us, for Your glory!
tom felten on August 24, 2010 at 9:20 am
Marvin, praise God that He changes hearts and allows us to love one another—tearing down the ugly walls of prejudice. Thanks so much for sharing this incredible account! I had tears in my eyes as I read it.
Debrinconcita on November 9, 2010 at 3:21 am
What a great message. I have been prejudice against Non-Native people most of my life. I was raised to be like this. BUT, now I know that it has been wrong. I have prayed for God to change my way’s & I practice it alot. I have truly changed alot over the past few years, all for the better.
tom felten on November 9, 2010 at 8:30 am
Thanks so much for sharing how God has been working in your heart, Debrinconcita! It’s sad that prejudice gets passed from one generation to the next. But the grace and humility that Jesus fill us with can break the chain of bigotry/racism and let us love all people—all made in God’s image—the way He does.
4thejourney on January 2, 2013 at 12:49 pm
What a spirit of humility for this man to reach out to his pastor, asking for forgiveness. Although this was written sometime ago, it’s so appropriate for today after the recent elections and once again the country electing an African American man as President of the United States. The aftermath of this election has been the result of a very ugly, disgraceful case of bigotry and racism, setting this country back 40 years. The social ills of this country have made me say what would Jesus do? What is God thinking thru all of this? Many presidents have had policies that citizens were unhappy with yet have not said or created the ugly chaos during President Obama’s term and this election First and fore-most for those who call themselves Christians, God is our leader; president, lawyer and ALL. As a country we must ask God for forgiveness on how we have responded to the social ills of this election and pray for Mr. President, his presidency, Congress, the Senate and these United States of America.