Fear and prejudice

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

How does it make you feel when a group of people is chatting away in a language that you don’t understand? Are you uncomfortable around people whose skin color and choice of clothing are different than yours? Do you fear that your community is changing because minorities are moving in?

Most people are comfortable with the familiar and uncomfortable with things that are out of the ordinary. This is especially true of people who don’t share our language or culture. When meeting someone who is quite a bit different from what we’re used to, most of us act differently than we typically do around strangers. There is curiosity that makes a person want to stare. There is a trace of fear that makes one hesitant to say "hello".

Some people take their discomfort into the realm of hostility. How many times have you heard someone grumble about people who are different taking our jobs and dating our kids? How many of these people are the target of nasty jokes? How many are denied decent housing and can’t get a promotion at work? How many are singled out for mistreatment because of how they speak or how they look?

We are all descended from two people—Adam and Eve. Despite outward differences, we are all members of one extended family. That’s how God looks at things. Scripture says, The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. Peter struggled with prejudice against non-Jews, but eventually he came around: I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right (Acts 10:34). In Galatians chapter three Paul writes, There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Jesus suffered and died for every single person, regardless of background. He does not favor one skin color over another; He does not favor one language over another; He does not favor one cultural background over another. Jesus is interested in the contents of the heart. If we share His focus, bigotry and discrimination won’t put up barriers between us.