8-12-2018

Good Morning All,

              Galatians 3:28; “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ.”

     I was reading an article by a child psychologist the other day.  She was addressing an issue raised by a young parent whose young child pointed to someone in a wheelchair and the rather loudly asked why can’t that man walk.  The horrified mother asked what to do.  The psychologist suggested that rather than get upset she should point out all the similarities that existed.  Yes, the man couldn’t walk but he had two ears like you and two eyes and two arms, etc.  She felt by pointing out all the similarities, the differences would hold less prominence.

     Why is it that we always seem to look for the differences at first?  Why do we seek those things which we use to divide and separate?  It often starts out innocent enough: it is how we identify individuals.  We see Suzy as the short, blonde girl and Billy as the tall red head.  But all too soon we take those differences and use them to hold others down or try to push them back; all in an effort to get to the front.  So we take those differences and we begin to categorize people.  This group is greedy; this group is lazy, this group is selfish, this group is made up of criminals.  (I didn’t list who but you probably filled in the blanks).  Instead of looking at what we have in common and try and build on that; we build walls to keep some back from us or out of our sight or away from us.

       Yet when God looks at people He sees one thing, a sinful creature.  Before God we are all the same.  There is no difference; we are all sinners deserving eternal punishment.  But by God’s grace, God sees only righteousness and holiness when He looks at His redeemed children.  All God sees is Christ’s atoning sacrifice.  He sees us as one in Christ, holy and undefiled.  We are not male or female, tall or short, fat or skinny, black, brown, white, yellow, purple or orange; we are the redeemed children of God.  That is how God sees us and that is how we should see our fellow believer.  We are all the same.  We are forgiven sinners who live by God’s grace and mercy.  We need to tear down the walls we build and see what God sees, forgiven creatures.

     When we do this, it enhances our desire to have compassion on one another.  When we see each other as more like us than different than us; we will see the pain or sorrow that others experience.  When we see how we are alike; we see ourselves as brothers and sisters just as God desires us to.  We are God’s children, one and all; all of us alike. 

Father in heaven, too often we let our sinful nature lead us into prejudice and suspicion.  Forgive us our sin.  Guide us Lord to remove the walls and the barriers which we build between us and our fellow believers.  Cause us to see them as our brothers in Christ and to feel their pain and to share in their joy to your glory here on earth.  In The precious name of Jesus our ascended Lord we pray, amen. 

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret