#DearWhitePeople - A Reflection on Relationship

In the last post I wrote about how the movie Dear White People is about identity. We unfortunately place our identities in faulty things when the truth is that God is calling us to place our identities in Him.

This movie is also about RELATIONSHIP.

A majority of the movie centered on relationships that were rooted in deceit, pride, and prejudice. These relationships were never based on authenticity, humility, or reconciliation. Only at the end of the movie do we get a glimpse of all three merging into any relationship. That moment came when Sam, the main character of the film, opens up to her boyfriend about her struggles with her dad battling cancer. In a beautiful moment, Sam is open and honest with him at the same moment he realizes that he needs to humbly listen and comfort her. When both of those happen in tandem it become clear that reconciliation is occurring.

So, the main question is this: Are your relationships marked by authenticity?

So, are our relationship with one another marked by authenticity? Most people feel like being completely authentic with someone is impossible, for one reason or another. Maybe the fear is that they won’t accept you. Maybe the guilt you feel is too heavy to be forgiven. Maybe you feel like it’s not a big deal and it’s no one’s business.

Trust me, the best relationships I have today are due to a reciprocal authenticity with the other people. Just the other week I was sitting in someone’s living room crying about how I feel like no matter what I did I would not be accepted and that I am a disappointment. This painfully beautiful conversation was the beginning of a reconciled relationship between a brother in Christ.

"We believe the best about one another. We wade through the worst with one another.”
- Pastor Kevin Larson

No one in Dear White People is ever completely authentic to who they are until the end of the movie, and even then there is only a flash, a glimpse into authentic relationship.

You guys, do not wait until the end of your story to be completely authentic. Being honest with someone is hard, but the rewards of being honest are a kind of unity that only comes from loving, being loved, forgiving, and being forgiven.

As important as being authentic with others is for your life, being authentic with God is eternally more important. God already knows how flawed and imperfect you are, and that’s exactly why Jesus needed to die on the cross to forgive your sins. He needed to rise again to defeat Satan, sin and death. He already knows you - the real, authentic you. Place your faith in Jesus. He was perfectly authentic - sinless, full of grace, and full of mercy.

Being authentic is to be done by faith. It is to be done in God’s grace. It is to be done among God’s people, and it is to be done on mission to share the good news of Jesus with the world.

God is good and gracious

Jacob Luis Gonzales