About four years ago, my friend and I attended a denominational meeting as church representatives. We shared a room and spent the better part of 48 hours together. One night, we stayed up for hours chatting. Our conversation ran the usual gamut of topics — relationships, family, hobbies. But what I remember most are the stories my friend shared about his countless negative interactions with police officers. It shook me. Of course, I had read and seen stories of police brutality and shootings of unarmed black men before, but hearing my friend talk about being regularly pulled over for no reason other than the color of his skin dumbfounded me.

I wish I could say that my first reaction was outrage and righteous indignation, but it was mostly shock and some disbelief. After all, I had never been pulled over for no reason or hassled by police officers. Neither had anyone in my family or anyone I grew up with. It’s not that I didn’t believe my friend or trust what he was saying. It sounded like he lived in a different country than me.

I’m ashamed to admit that it was not until I was in intimate community with African-Americans and heard their stories that the depths of racial injustice became personal for me. While opening my eyes to injustices, my friends also showed me God’s mercy and patience in helping me see how race relations deeply shape our discipleship as Christians in this country.

Put simply, in the Kingdom of God, God’s people are reconciled to Him and to each other. This is clearly not the case in our culture in which deep racial divides are the norm. I started to wonder why this was. How was it possible to be a Christian and not see all the ways that brothers and sisters of color were mistreated, devalued, and hurting? Their stories echo so loudly. We need to stop, listen, and let them shape us as disciples of Christ.

What is Discipleship?

In the opening lines of Confessions, St. Augustine writes: “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Expanding on this notion, philosophy professor, James K. A. Smith argues that human beings are primarily desiring creatures, not thinking or believing ones. Therefore, it is our desires that dictate our actions and behaviors. In short, we do what we love. Smith doesn’t refer to superficial “likes” or mere preferences. He is talking about our heart’s deepest desires, what we yearn for, what we crave.¹ This is fundamental to human nature and to understanding discipleship and formation. Discipleship is discerning how our desires have been deformed by the world and submitting to the Father to reform us through the Holy Spirit to become more like Jesus.

So, what does God desire for us to desire? In the “cultural mandate” in Genesis 1:28, God commands mankind to be fruitful and multiply, to cover the earth and subdue it. As His ambassadors and image-bearers, we were to spread His Name and glory across the wide array of creation. As we adapted, people would develop different cultures that would reflect the broad and expansive glory of God.² In fulfilling God’s mandate, we would find rest in Him.

Of course, we failed, and our desires became warped and distorted. Only Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection could make us right again. The Holy Spirit directs our discipleship and formation toward the Father’s will and desire to make us more like His Son. Because we are desiring creatures, the Holy Spirit reorients and transforms our loves to align with God’s. That is what it means to be in the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is where God’s rule and reign are perfect and where His will is perfectly realized. Though our world is far from that, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection ushered in God’s Kingdom and we can now see glimpses of Glory in and through the Church. In fact, Revelation 7:9 provides a very hopeful foretaste of the Kingdom: “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb” loudly worshiping Jesus. God delights when all of His people worship Him to reflect the many facets of our infinite and awesome God! God longs for His people to be reconciled to Him and to each other in worship.

There is very little in American history and culture that orients its people to this Godly vision for mankind. None of this should surprise Christians. We know that our hearts are bent toward self-worship and rebellion. As a result, the cultures we formed, which were supposed to spread God’s glory, instead destroy, consume, and exploit people and all of God’s creation. In God’s Kingdom, every nation, tribe, people, and language stand united before the throne in worshiping the Lamb. In America, segregation and separation are the norms. “Us” versus “them.” God’s Kingdom is inclusive; American culture is exclusive.

In order to be a disciple of Christ in America, the first step is to understand that God seeks to change what we desire and love from ourselves to Him. We need to taste, see, and experience that Jesus is the Bread of Life, not fortune, fame, security, or comfort. We need to yearn for God above all else and delight in what God delights in — reconciliation with Him and with each other. The fruit that God bears from reconciliation fulfills His cultural mandate and we find rest in Him as reconciled people.