Ridgell's Originals

Donald Sterling is (maybe about to be "was") the owner of the Los Angles Clippers. He made a series of racial remarks to his girlfriend that led to a massive fine and a lifetime ban from the NBA.

Let me real clear.  Racism is horrible.  As a Christian, I despise it and I hope we in the church are living proof of the fact that God does not relate to us based on the color of our skin.

But I find some things about this interesting.

The fact that Sterling is a racist is not new information.  It has been common knowledge in the sports world for a long time.  All of this outrage and activity came about after it became public.

How much of a factor did money play in these decisions.  Advertiser boycotts, player protests, and bad PR.  How much did this affect the decision making process?

It is hard for me to applaud the NBA as a beacon of morality when there are girlfriends for married players, illegitimate children fathered by players, and when homosexuality is something celebrated.  There was no outrage at the fact that it was Sterling's mistress that revealed all of this.

But here is what all of this reminded me about sin.

I don't want to act against sin when it becomes public and ignore it when it only known by a few.  Sin is sin and is not evaluated by how many people know about it.

I don't think money should ever be a determining factor for Kingdom business.

I don't want to categorize sin based on what culture decides.

I want to be a voice for grace and forgiveness in a fallen world.

I hope someone gets the opportunity to tell Donald Sterling about Jesus.

There are lots of people like him in our world.  I know some of them.  Maybe I'm the one to tell them about Jesus.

And racism is still a horrible thing.  No matter how many people know about it.