For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Ephesians 2:14In 1967 Detroit exploded in what would be know ever after as, “The 12th Street Riot”. As a 14 year old white boy living about an hour from Detroit I was petrified. I didn’t know much about what was going on but I was afraid that my family was going to be murdered. Black people scared me. Why? Ignorance pure and simple.
I had grown up in a white community and had never met any black people. There was a black kid in our school but I had never spoken to him. I lived in my own little white world and was happy to do so. My ignorance of the black culture had lead to prejudice and my prejudice had lead me to fear.
Prejudice is that decisive determination of guilt or bias that comes before knowledge. One judges before hand. The mind is bent in a certain direction that is impossible to correct. Or seemingly so.
God has interesting ways of helping us to face our ignorance and fears. He put this nineteen year old white boy in an auto factory in Pontiac Michigan where fifty percent of my department was either black or Puerto Rican. My boss was a 6’2” black man. I was petrified! However, as time went by he became one of my good friends. God did another incredible thing when he brought me to Brazil. But that is another story.
Maybe you have a problem with skin color. You might go to that Old Testament passage in Genesis 9:25 where Noah says to his son: … Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. You may use this passage to support your twisted beliefs. Study this passage well and you will find that it has nothing to do with a curse of skin color.
If, my friend, you have a problem with prejudice you might want to check the certainty of your salvation. Why do I say this? Look at Ephesians chapter 2. Paul gives us the classic example of desegregation rather than segregation. Notice what he says in verse 14,
For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies (The Good News Bible).The wall that Paul speaks of here is the wall of prejudice. The Jews thought themselves different or better than all other peoples. They were God’s chosen. They had been entrusted with God’s oracles and they would receive one day God’s Messiah or Savior.
Their grave mistake was that they had become so proud of their relationship with God that they had actually crucified The Sent One Jesus Christ. However, ironically, Jesus’ death had made possible the breaking down of the Berlin wall of all time, Jewish prejudice.
Christ’s death had crushed the wall that divided the Jews from all others (the Gentiles). Christ’s death had made peace possible. Christ’s death had made friendship possible where hatred had reigned.
So where does this triumph leave you? If you are a person with prejudice you need to examine your own heart. Do you truly have a relationship with the barrier breaker, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ? If you think that you do then you had better think again. Peace reigns and prejudice is banned in His kingdom.
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