After hearing an acquaintance make two racist remarks, I insinuated that his remarks were problematic. I didn’t respond in violently. I simply tried to steer my acquaintance in a better direction. Instead of acknowledging any error, my acquaintance kept making deflecting comments. “Aren’t we all just a little racist?” I tried again and my acquaintance kept deflecting. “Yeah, but we are all racist you know.” The circular conversation was exhausting. When confronted with troubling behavior, I have found that this is the new line of defense for many people. With all of the problems that we face, followers of Jesus have a particular duty to confess their sins. There can be no repentance or recovery with a circular pattern of deflection. Progress comes from confession not deflection. I am a recovering racist and probably always will be. What about you?
Amen.
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