Our true nationality is mankind. —H. G. Wells
My daughter attended a private preschool without a great degree of student diversity. One day, she and I were out on the playground when she looked up at me and said, “Daddy, there’s my best friend. The girl in the pink skirt.”
The girl in the pink skirt was the only girl on the playground with dark skin. This daughter of mine was getting it right.
In Acts 10, we see Jesus birthing in Peter a new way of seeing the world. Three times, Peter was shown a vision of food that was considered unclean by the Jewish culture, and three times Peter was told to consider it clean.
While he was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” (Acts 10:19-20)
The word “hesitate” here is the Greek diakrino, which means to separate or make a distinction, to judge or withdraw from.
Peter got it, and he invited these three men inside. They were Gentiles, so by doing this, Peter was breaking social and religious taboos.
The next day Peter went with the men, and with them, he took the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Listen, in order for us to be who Jesus intends us to be, in order for the Gospel to spread as God desires it to spread, and in order for the Kingdom to grow as we hope it will grow, racism must be eradicated completely from our hearts and minds. Just as we wouldn’t settle for “almost” eradicating cancer from our physical bodies, we should never settle for “near” eradication of superiority in our minds.
The cancer of racism in our churches can be eradicated by two treatments: First, we move toward people who are not like us. And then we ask them, “What can we do?”
Lord, I want to move toward people—all people—without judgment or discrimination. I see Your stance on racism and choose to see all people as equal and equally valuable. Amen.
Learn more from Pete’s teaching on Luke, What Will Jesus Do?