Sunday Snippets: All Are Precious in His Sight

Acts 17:24-26 "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;" (emphasis mine)

Within the last couple of years, there have been tragic events that, with increasing frequency, are causing an immense amount of criticism of our law enforcement here in the U.S. Racism claims and accusations are flying, with little regard for the plain truth of what the events were, and who was involved. I do not follow the news really at all to be honest, but this has been such a major issue, who hasn't heard about it? 

So many people go on and on about "race". So and so is of this race, I am of that one. On applications they ask what your race is. Such and such couple was an interracial marriage. The list goes on. Obviously we as Christians are to base our worldview on The Bible, not on society's thinking. (Which is pretty messed up, by the way). So let me ask you this: is there any such thing as different races? 

In the passage above, Paul is preaching on Mars Hill. I'm sure there was a huge diversity of people listening at the time; after all, they were busy worshipping literally every god known to man and more. There had to be a lot of people from different regions. One of the first things Paul says is that God made "of one blood" all nations. So to answer my own question...is there any such thing as different races? No. There is one race living on this planet. The human race. So when people talk about a group of people as being a different "race", they are incorrect in the very groundwork of their thinking.

So how does knowing that there is only ONE race translate into our daily lives? First of all, we need to realize that within every single people group and skin color on this earth, there are people who live wickedly, and people who live "morally" by the world's standards. But does that mean that the moral ones are on their way to heaven? No!! God's plan of salvation is the same across the board...if someone hasn't accepted Christ as their personal Saviour, they are lost, no matter how they live their daily life--moral or otherwise. What I'm trying to say is, that we have our focus all wrong. We look at the situations in the news and say "The cop ended up doing this and the other guy did that, and this or that one was black, so there must have been a racial issue, yada yada..." what we are forgetting is that red or yellow, black or white, every single one of them needs Jesus Christ! It doesn't matter who was right or wrong, who was black or white, who had a racial slant going and who didn't: they are all human beings with immortal souls that need salvation.

As followers of Jesus, let's not get caught up in racial disputes or discrimination claims. He hath made of one blood all nations. We are called to share the love of Christ, and the message of His Gospel, with every creature; and it does not matter what color skin they may have. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God searches the hearts of men. Let's get out there and start sharing what He's done for us, and what He can do for others! That message of grace is the only one that can bring peace to people with war and hate in their hearts.

Mykaela

P.S. Please bear with me, as I am doing some revamping on the blog design...a couple of posts may show up out of order and/or repost previous articles again. I'm having a few technical difficulties with that. ;) Thank you for your patience!