Last week, I shared an article by Sam Allberry, where he reflects on three lessons he learned from Ravi Zacharias. All three lessons help us learn how to listen well, and how to speak rightly, in a world where sin and its painful, poisonous fruits bring great pain.
This week, I am sharing another article that shows us how to apply those lessons. Shai Linne is a hip-hop artist and a pastor right here in Philadelphia. In this article, he describes his own experience as “a black man in America.” He pours out his heart, and if we are ready to listen, the impact is profound.
Remember the first lesson from last week’s post: the person matters more than the question. This article gives us an opportunity to listen to one man’s experience – a man made in the image of God – and in listening to his experience, we likely learn something of the experience of many others. (I first read this article because a friend shared it. She encouraged us to read it as an expression of her family’s experience.)
I encourage you to read this article slowly, in a quiet place, when you have time to reflect and possibly read several times. Be slow to speak and quick to listen. That’s instruction from our heavenly Father. Practice this godly discipline. And then, as Shai Linne suggests in the letter he shares, mourn with those who mourn, and weep with those who weep. When the time is right, maybe you can hear the experiences of others who share similar pain.
Even as you mourn and weep, listen as well to the gospel message that this brother shares so clearly. The gospel doesn’t minimize the pain (Lam. 3:20), and neither should we, but the gospel does offer hope (Lam. 3:21-24). Rejoice in the gracious God and glorious gospel that Shai Linne so clearly presents.
Here is the link that will open the article in a new tab: “George Floyd and Me”