Enjoy this article from Olivia Lopez, one of the 5 sister writers from the Knots and Embers blog, where she discusses how her marriage uniquely reflects the gospel.
Have you seen the videos on social media of colorblind individuals who receive glasses that help them see color for the first time? How extraordinary were their reactions! They had learned to function in a world without color and did seemingly well doing so. But how much more did that experience of color open up their world!? Surely their minds were flooded with more thoughts, questions, insights, understandings, all based on the simple addition of seeing in color.
Color blindness is not a state in which humanity was meant to live in. We were created with colored sight for specific reasons that certainly broaden our horizons and aid in our understandings of our experiences.
Just as some have learned to live without color physically, there are also those who have lived color blind in their relationships with other cultures, ethnicities and people.
Our present culture and young adult generation is quickly transforming, and one incredible change we are collectively bent on making is in our global mindset.
Racism, (and as a byproduct) ethnic and multi-cultural prejudices, and ethnic/cultural ignorance have been “put on blast” by our greater society especially over the past couple of months.
But this mindset isn’t a new revelation. In fact, God’s Word proclaims the diversity of all humanity as being made in God’s image and has called for the kingdom of God to be made up of all the world!
The Gospel is in fact global.
The Savior Himself gave the greatest commission to share the hope of salvation with all the world: “Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ ” Matthew 28:18-20
So how has this been made true in my life?
If you know even a little about me, you’ll know I’m happily married to the love of my life (because I stay posting about him up on my insta ;)), and the love of my life – my wonderful husband – happens to be a different ethnicity than me. It’s quite obvious; we look different, our first languages were different, we grew up different, and the fact that we find unity in our many differences is one of my greatest pride and joys!
Many see remaining colorblind as loving your neighbors who are in fact different than you, and though it is good and godly to not base one’s worth on the color of their skin, how much more do we love as our Lord does when we live in color: celebrating the ways those many differences can help us grow in life and godliness!
I love my intercultural marriage and life as it is such an explicit reflection of the Gospel in action. We love getting to reflect Jesus in such a beautiful and unique way.
It’s been a wild blessing to see how God has been growing in my heart a love and curiosity for the world, since I was even a young girl, bringing me specifically to this season beginning a covenant and holy marriage with my Filipino-Pacific-Islander-Asian husband, Paul Rovy Lopez.
These past few quarantine/pandemic months, one of Rovy’s projects has been restoring my family’s home videos. We’ve had such a blast sifting through all the content of my growing up years, but the most rewarding experience has been reliving those younger years alongside my husband and seeing the small ways in which my parents were intentional with instilling a Kingdom mindset in my sisters and I. One such video clip that we witnessed this in was of Mama Kat (my mama) reading a children’s book about Asia to toddler Olivia.
Though there was no way for her to know 20 years later God would bring a loving and godly Asian man into my life, we were moved to tears seeing the hand of God at work in little Olivia’s heart and life through Mama Kat and Pastor Daddy’s faithfulness in raising their girls with a Kingdom perspective; that which shouts the Gospel to be global.
Growing up I had a deep-seated, and I believe, God-ordained fascination with the Asian culture to the point that my homeschooling Mama allowed me to do geographic projects on various Asian countries and I took Mandarin for 3 of my preteen years. I read many missionary stories about the Asian continent, and my first mission trip out of the country was itself to a South-Asian country.
I didn’t always know what this holy passion for our Asian brothers and sisters was meant for. I did however know that celebrating a background, culture and ethnicity different from mine echoed the Kingdom mindset and has brought me a vast array of opportunities to learn and grow.
In college, I chose my minor to be Intercultural Studies, as I’ve found you can never have too many opportunities to grow your cross-cultural and global IQ (which we need many more ways to do so – don’t forget to grow your global IQ, people)! This essentially led me to the multi-cultural church plant we currently serve at now, Hope of the Nations, and the meeting of my dear husband who was (and still is) the young adult pastor. As I like to tell it, I fell in love with the church and the beautiful expression of the Gospel it exhibits, and Rovy (now my husband) fell in love with me. 🙂
Now my Rovy and I have this wonderful call in our union to live Lopez and in doing so, we are living Kingdom-minded.
These past couple months have been uncomfortable for many as we witness the world react to injustice based on ethnicity that has dragged on for far too long. But what a time to be a Christ-follower!
Are we not the ones who bear the Hope of the world? Have we not been armed with the commission of a Kingdom perspective? Let us bring peace to frustrated and pained and tired hearts by sharing the Truth of the globalized Gospel. So, have the hard conversations with your friends. Remain humble in your ignorance. And always be open to the growth God has waiting for you.
Hope abounds. Unity abounds. The Gospel abounds.
This post was originally shared at knotsandembers.com. If you have a submission that you would like to share, send it our way!
