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VOL V  NO. 12  DECEMBER 2004

REV. ROBERT KELLEY

 


The Mask Of Black Inner Strength

 

Rev. Robert Kelley is the founder and president of Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. and pastored the St. Mark Baptist Church of Portland, Oregon at the time this was published.

 

Over twenty-five years ago in college I was introduced to the concept of mask wearing or as it is known on the streets, "fronting."  The Greeks in their theatre and the Bible calls such conduct, hypocrisy.  In the Greek theatre (and even in various African tribal rituals to this day for that matter) actors wear masks to portray different characters.  In the theatre of life, people wear masks, front or play the hypocrite to cover up their true identity, motives, attitudes, hurts, flaws, faults, fears, guilt, shame etc.

 

Back in college it was revelatory and humbling to discover how much I was prone as all human beings to wear a mask of some kind.  I do so less now, but the temptation to be something I am not is always before me especially when to show where I´m really at, will reveal I´m not all that!  I thank God on two accounts here: First, because of His forgiveness whenever I fail to "keep it real" and confess it to Him.  Secondly, because of His renewing work in me that has made my shameful mask wearing failures fewer down through the years since I first faced up to this behavior.

 

One of the most disturbing masks of delusion I have seen worn by black Americans is that of inner strength.  Civil rights and political leaders, the intelligentsia, writers, poets, playwrights, religionists, radicals, upper class, middle class, low class and even no class black folks speak proudly of the innate strength we have as a people to have endured in America this long.  Have we really endured this long due to our own, natural inner strength?

 

We need to be clear what inner strength is.  According to Webster´s Dictionary, the word inner refers to "the mind or spirit" (i.e. "the inner person").  Strength is "the quality, state, or property of being strong."  It is also power as in "power to resist force, stress, wear or attack."  Finally, among other things, strength is "toughness." Thus, to speak of inner strength is to speak of the strength, power and toughness of a person´s soul in the face of resistance in the form of credible adversities, hardships, persecutions, trials and tribulations!

 

It is true that the endurance of blacks in America has been a grand display of inner strength but it has not been our own nor is it found to the universal extent of which the proud boast.  The display of inner strength that has been seen in a significant number of blacks from slavery until now is that of Jesus Christ supernaturally supplied through relationship with Him!  Ask any genuine Christians and they will humbly tell you this is the case.

 

Jesus Christ knows something about suffering.  He was innocent and the only pure victim earth has ever seen.  He was "despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" as the prophet Isaiah foretold some 700 years before His birth (Isaiah 53:3a, NKJV).  He was tried illegally, beaten unmercifully and sentenced to death for truthfully confessing Himself "The Christ, Son of the Blessed" and "The King of the Jews," (Mark 14:61-62, 15:2, NKJV).  For the sake of our salvation He submitted to and endured these things (Isaiah 49:1-6, 53:4-6).

 

Concerning the violence and cruelty heaped upon Him, Isaiah quotes the Lord, "I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting," (Isaiah 50:6, NKJV).  The prophet then reports, "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth," (Isaiah 53:7, NKJV). This is the perfect display of inner strength and the standard!

 

Again, the inner strength of Jesus Christ is what has been on display in the lives of many and often nameless black Americans from slavery until now.  They patiently endured all manner of personal cruelty, assault, oppression, bigotry and injustice through faith in Him.  They did not run from, threaten, loud talk or resist those who perpetrated evil against them (I Peter 2:18-25).  And when the Lord has called upon them to make a stand against evil, they have peacefully done so.  Christian names we know historically include Ms. Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Therefore, in light of the poor coping skills and social chaos in our communities today, inner strength must clearly be at a premium (Proverbs 24:10)!  Indeed, is it on display in drug and alcohol abusers who abuse to escape whatever problems they face?  Are black men showing it when we use, mistreat or beat up female partners celebrating some morally bankrupt definition of urban manhood?  Is it inner strength on display when we father and abandon our children or get beat by the police resisting arrest?   Are those black males who maim and kill one another over demonically defined notions of respect and territory in gangs really displaying inner strength?

 

Are black feminists who outwardly boast of their independence from men displaying inner strength when they engage in promiscuous sexual conduct?  Are unmarried black females really showing it when they keep plowing ahead looking for "Mr. Right" after having their third or fourth child with different fathers?  In light of the example of Jesus Christ and His faithful followers since the first century, the answer is no!  Besides committing sin, such folk are all wearing a mask of self-deception to believe their behavior is evidence of a natural inner strength.  Truly, we will not endure much longer as a people acting behind this mask.

 

 

 

©2004 Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc