3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He [a]made us accepted in the Beloved.
It appears that God extends more grace toward us than we do toward other people. How quick we are to shed certain relationships from our lives when others do not live up to our standards, or the moment they hurt us with the slightest insult or verbal injury, or in some cases when we've been physically injured at the hands of someone.
Since our loss in 2007, I have read numerous faith stories of people experiencing inner peace not long after forgiving those who hurt them. John 3:16 is a verse that comes to mind-'God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.'
If we could see the world through God's eyes, we would see suffering and hurting people crying out for someone to save them from the ravishes of life. If we could see the world through God's eyes, we would see people of all ethnicities searching for the one true source for their physical, emotional and spiritual suffering.
Yet, it is easy to forget this thought when we find ways to congregate only with those who are 'like us'. For example, as I was walking out of the Coon Rapids Lowes I noticed a darker skin couple struggling with loading their recent large purchase into their Menards rental truck. I went over to them offering to help steady the large box so he could get it into place on the back of their truck. I'm sure his smaller wife was very much appreciative of my assistance. Once we were able to get the item into place I introduced myself, looked him in the eye and shook his hand. He thanked me for my assistance. I realized not long after how much God loved this couple and even though their skin tone was different, they were like me.
They say that the most segregated part of the week is our Sunday services because of the tendency to only worship with those who are like us. The moment we experience more people of color or ethnicities coming into our congregation many begin feeling this uncomfortableness that causes some to find a church elsewhere where people are like them.
In her later years, Corrie Ten Boon had an encounter with a reformed Nazi concentration camp guard, a man who was notorious in his punishment at the concentration camp she was at, a man who accepted Jesus Christ into his heart and was excited about his new found faith that he wanted to seek forgiveness from those he had hurt. At first, Corrie was unable to forgive this man because of what he did to his sister, Betsy, but when he saw that Jesus forgave all of her sin's that she should forgive that man's sin's as well.' For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son is a powerful reminder of how we should view people of all ethnicities. It is also a reminder that the way toward racial reconciliation is through getting to know others, not like us, one conversation at a time. When we do, we will see that they are just like us!
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