[John 1:45-46]

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

And Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."

[Galatians 3:28]

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I think if we were all to search our hearts and be honest we would find something that we are prejudice against; someone that we discriminate against without even realizing it. Some of these things come from our upbringing, some from personal experiences that were negative. It can be gender, age, appearance, financial status, geographical, race or religion. I must shamefully admit I used to be prejudice against people in bowling leagues — it always made me think of the Flintstones. I know it was silly, but guess what? God led me to marry a man in a bowling league.

Even Jesus suffered from discrimination (see verses above). Nazareth didn't have the best reputation yet this is where our Lord and Savior chose to come from. The leaders of the church were always trying to trick him. But did Jesus every once discriminate? Does it say in the Bible that Jesus refused to associate with anyone of certain races, cultures, appearance, gender, etc? Of course not. It was the lowly that He chose to spend time with. The woman at the well, the woman that was to be stoned, the prostitutes, the poor, the sick.

If He is willing to forgive and love us with all of our faults and failures, how we can do any less for every person on this planet. We need to show them God's love and grace so they can come to know Him too.

I also challenge you as Christians reading this to not allow yourself to discriminate against non-believers. Instead, you need to include them in your life, love them and be a witness to them. Not by being judgmental of them, but by showing them God's love. And as they become open to it, tell them about your Savior. If we hide away in our own little "Christian Clicks" we will fail to follow the great commission and many souls will be lost.

We cannot and should not be afraid of those different from us — God loves us all and would have the entire world come to know Him. He did not make a world of clones — we are all unique in our own ways and all loved by God.

Lorie Ham's "Let Go" Mini-Devotional  is a small 14-page booklet about "Letting Go" of things in your life to God. Click here for information on ordering a copy.

©2008 Lorie Ham. All rights reserved.