If I Were A Slave: A Tribute to My Redeemer and Ancestors (1)

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free..." Luke 4:18


Imagine me whipped until the skin on my back peeled.  Or imagine me sold on an auction block, never to see my wife and seven children again.  I've always wondered what kind of slave I would have been in Macon, Georgia, the home of my ancestors, who suffered unimaginably for me.  What kind of slave would I be?  A "revolutionary?"  A compliant servant?

There is no way for me to know scenarios of imaginary history for me.  I can only know what kind of slave I would have been by what kind of slave I am right now.

To whom do I belong?
Who owns me, defines me, and determines my actions?

Jesus, my Redeemer, the one who set me and my ancestors free in this country, He alone is My Master, and I His willing slave. 

Many of my people have forgotten the "God of our weary years."  We rejected one slave master, but never accepted the other.  The same is true for the white people who came to this country resisting tyranny.  They rejected the King of England, but didn't accept the King of Kings. 

Both, white Christians and Black Christians have "strayed from the places" where we met God. 
Both, white Christians and Black Christians, "drunk with the wine of the world," we've forgotten Christ.

Neither of us, therefore, are "true to our God, or true to our native lands," the land of our ancestors, or the land that was stolen.

A prophet once said these words to me, words that defined my life:

"The struggle is not to be black, but to be like Christ, and in being like Christ, your blackness will come naturally."

Christ sets me free, gives me my lost African Identity, and releases me from the truest slavery.


click here for part 2