The Race Issue

This month will be a journey into the interesting places of race relations. God created us with the variety with which He created most everything. But what He created as a wonderful array of beauty we have perverted into a hierarchy. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” You say, that is all well and good, but we live in a world of people who see and judge us based on the color of our skin and the texture of our hair. What does God have to say about navigating those circumstances?

Race not only serves as a basis for a societal hierarchy but also as a beauty scale of soughts. This past May, a blogger for Psychology Today claimed that Black women are less attractive than nonblack women. While we know this is not true, similar opinions and the images in the media can affect how we feel about ourselves. In addition to the perception of others, African-Americans have learned the art of racism and have created a hierarchy within the race.

This month we will explore racism and prejudice from a biblical perspective. I pray that we will be better able to see not as man sees but more the ways God sees. My prayer is that we will better understand who God created us to be in Christ regardless of and within our ethnicity.