God never created us to live cut off, empty, or alone. We were made for intimate relatedness—with God and with one another. That means we were made to be deeply connected, deeply loved, and deeply rooted in the life of God. From the beginning, God made humanity in His image (Genesis 1:27), and Jesus prayed that His followers would be one with Him and with one another (John 17:21).
Connected to the Vine
Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5). A branch does not produce life by itself. It lives because it is connected to the vine. In the same way, we do not find our true life, strength, identity, or fruit apart from Jesus. We need to remain connected to Him every day, because apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5) and in Him we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:28).
Connected to the Holy Spirit
The Bible also says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). That means God does not only visit us from a distance. His Spirit lives within His people. We carry His presence. We are not worthless. We are not forgotten. We belong to God. Scripture also reminds us that God’s Spirit bears witness that we are His children (Romans 8:16).
Healing What Has Been Wounded
We also have to be honest about the wounds people carry. Slavery and racial segregation did not only harm bodies, families, communities, and opportunities. They also wounded the soul. They tried to teach Black people that they were less than human, less valuable, and less worthy of honor. That kind of lie leaves deep scars.
But the gospel speaks a better word. God does not call His children nobody. God does not call Blackness ugly. God does not measure worth by the false standards of racism, slavery, or segregation. Every person is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Every believer is invited to abide in Christ (John 15:4). Every child of God can stand with dignity because their identity is rooted in the Lord, who has called His people chosen, royal, holy, and belonging to Him (1 Peter 2:9).
A Holy Sense of Worth
There is something holy about a people learning to reject shame and stand in God-given dignity. When people have been told for generations that they are nobody, it takes courage to rise up and say, “We are somebody because God says we are.” It takes healing to stop despising what God created and start honoring the beauty, strength, history, and heritage He has allowed a people to carry.
This does not mean our identity stops with race, culture, or history. For believers, our deepest identity is in Christ. But being in Christ does not erase our story. It heals it, redeems it, and teaches us to see ourselves and one another through the eyes of God. In Christ, there is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and in Him dividing walls are broken down so that God can make one new people (Ephesians 2:14–16).
Abide, Heal, and Bear Fruit
To be connected to the vine is to receive life from Jesus. To be the temple of the Holy Spirit is to carry the presence of God. And to live in intimate relatedness is to remember that we belong to God and to one another. We cannot love God while treating people as less than what God made them to be. Scripture says we cannot claim to love God while hating our brother or sister (1 John 4:20), and Jesus teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31).
So let us abide in Christ. Let us listen to the Holy Spirit. Let us reject every lie that devalues human dignity. Let us honor the image of God in every person. And let us bear fruit that looks like love, justice, healing, humility, and holy courage. The fruit of the Spirit includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23), and the Lord calls us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him (Micah 6:8).
Minister A Francine Green I July 2026