Ending Racism Because God Loves Everyone
Early on in his life, ending racism wasn’t one of my father’s goals. Negative words against anyone with different-colored skin spewed out for his children to hear. At a young age, I vowed to never hate someone because they looked different than me. Racial hatred consumed my Dad. He came off as cold, indifferent, and unloving when others didn’t fit inside his narrow mold.
Years later while shopping, I saw others like Dad who believed they were superior because of their ethnicity. Yet, they forget that God loves diversity which includes people.
Racism in a sentence according to the Oxford Dictionary is “the belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another.”
I continue to pledge to not fall into the same trap my Dad did. Why do Christians choose to detest others when they know nothing about them? What’s the motivator? Why do some Christians get their hackles up when someone unlike them walks by? Don’t they know that God is every person’s Creator?
Obviously, people decide to be racists. Therefore, why is racism important to stop?
Ending Racism Because It’s Non-Christian
I’m too chicken to set aside scripture and say it’s not for me. Doesn’t a racist who proclaims to be a Christian do just that? God provided His inspired Word so we can live victoriously in a fallen world. The Bible verses below reveal God’s heart on the matter although there are many more than these.
I Corinthians 12:13 – Each of us is a part of the one body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But the Holy Spirit has fitted us all together into one body. We have been baptized into Christ’s body by the one Spirit, and have all been given that same Holy Spirit.
I John 2:11 – For he who dislikes his brother is wandering in spiritual darkness and doesn’t know where he is going, for the darkness has made him blind so that he cannot see the way.
James 2:1 – Dear brothers, how can you claim that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, if you show favoritism to rich people and look down on poor people?
John 13:34 – And so I am giving a new commandment to you now—love each other just as much as I love you.
Revelation 7:9 – After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
Philippians 2:3-4 – Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Leviticus 19:33-34 – When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
I John 4:19-21 – We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Ending Racism By Knowing Scripture
Did you catch God’s heart—how much He loves ALL people and how He expects us to treat them?
Some people take scripture apart to suit themselves. They listen to the enemy’s voice and believe his lies that scripture is out of touch with the real world. The enemy will say racism isn’t a problem when millions have already been killed because people towered over others in superiority: The Holocaust, Rwanda massacres in 1994, and other genocides (see this article).
One of my first feelings when reading the above scriptures was fear for me and my family because racism can drive people to kill others without a second thought. You and I aren’t racists if someone of a different race enters our yard intending to harm us and our family. We are if we recoil because we meet someone who’s black, white, Asian, Indian, or another ethnicity and believe they don’t matter and we do.
You may ask, “What can I do to stop racism?”
The Keys to Stop Racism
- Recognize your thoughts about people for what they are. Do they match up with God’s heart? Do they point toward the light instead of darkness?
- Is God more important to you than hanging on to racist thoughts? Do you want to please Him above anyone or anything?
- Be honest. Do you have a rebellious heart that’s contentious, looking for what’s wrong with God and His creation? The whole human race shares the same propensity. We all love to exalt ourselves. It’s up to you to stop racism in your heart.
- Do you appreciate all of God’s creations, especially humans?
- Treat others the way YOU want to be treated (Matthew 22:39). Does your lip curl up into a snarl because of someone’s skin color or do you get in a huff when they get too close to your personal space? Not pretty—is it?
- Don’t build walls. Jesus is all about bringing down walls between people. Ephesians 2:14 – For Christ himself is our way of peace. He has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one family, breaking down the wall of contempt that used to separate us.
- Keep an eye on heaven. When Christians gather we won’t be segregated by race according to Revelation 7:9 above.
Having written all that, I’ve found what God dislikes the most about racism is that sin separates you from Him. He’s all about relationships and can’t hold us close when we sandwich sin in the middle.
The kingdom of God’s people on earth consists of a multitude of dialects, skin variations, hair textures, customs, cultures, and even foods. The bloodline of Jesus Christ is who we belong to. We’re all one in Him—connected—for all eternity. We’re one people—ethnicity doesn’t define us.
In his later years, my father no longer profaned other people. He became a deacon and worked tirelessly for God. My childlike prayers for him didn’t go unanswered. God worked in his heart as He will in anyone who embraces ending racism because God doesn’t like it.