1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. (NIV)
I absolutely love these two verses of scripture because they put everything, as far as race is concerned, into proper perspective. God’s word is extremely clear that race and racism have no place in the body of Christ. I know that we as people classify others by race and that one’s race is an identifying factor but your race does not matter to God. God only cares about our hearts not our race. In 1 Samuel 16:7 God makes it clear to Samuel “ But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
One thing that God does not tolerate is hate and definitely not because of race. God is very clear in the scriptures above that we cannot say we love Him and not love our brothers and sisters. How can people claim to love God whom they have never seen and yet hate people whom they have seen simply because of race? God says this should not be so. What racism says to God is this “God you made a mistake in making someone the color that you made them and if I were in your position I would have made them differently.”
At its core, racism and racists attempt to discredit God’s ability to be perfectly sovereign and it puts the racists in a position to attempt to be god themselves. What is even more appalling is that in many churches there is blatant disdain for other races and trust me on this God is not pleased. There are some who really do not want to minister to other races; which means that they really do not want to be the church. It is truly sad that churches are labeled as being Black, White, Asian, or Hispanic rather than being called the church. It is unfortunate that some do not want to worship God with other races, but I guess then they don’t want to be in heaven either. One thing we as Christians must be deliberate about is showing the love of God in us to all people. God’s word is very clear that we are to love God and love our brothers and sisters.
The two greatest commandments according to Jesus are:
1.To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and
2. To love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
These two go hand in hand because you cannot effectively do #1 without being able to accomplish #2 and vice versa.
I challenge everyone who reads this to be a true Christian and love everyone like God commands that we do and if you run across anyone who is racist challenge them to live a true Christian life and not hate anyone but love them. There is no place for race(ism) in the Kingdom of God.
I absolutely love these two verses of scripture because they put everything, as far as race is concerned, into proper perspective. God’s word is extremely clear that race and racism have no place in the body of Christ. I know that we as people classify others by race and that one’s race is an identifying factor but your race does not matter to God. God only cares about our hearts not our race. In 1 Samuel 16:7 God makes it clear to Samuel “ But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”