‘Races’
“Love makes it impossible to harm another, so love fulfills all that the law requires.” Romans 13:10TPT
Everyone is dealing with issues of racism right now— like it or not. Our pastor defined what a black woman was from an ‘ancestry. com’ commercial. He also showed us what a white person’s ancestry was. Then the other ‘skin-tone’ divisions in the world. By the time he finished, my head was spinning.
The black lady? She gave ‘by definition' her roots went back to a section of Africa, with approximately 154 different languages, tribes, and customs. Although her skin was darker brown, she came from diverse tribes, languages, customs, not a single source.
Let’s use Lou for a source of ‘white.’ His DNA kit revealed French, Irish, English, Greek, ‘Mediterranean Isles.’ We know from the family tree, three great-grandmas back was an native Indian of Quebec. Four great-grandmas back on the other side is a first nation Quebec Indian, two different tribes. Ancestry didn’t even mention the Indians, we know about. What ‘race’ is Lou?
I know I am Welsh, Pennsylvania Dutch, Holland Dutch, English, Irish and a touch of native American Indian, per the family tree. What ‘race’ am I?
Who are you?
Hispanic peoples are quite the variety of skin-colors. Some are Pacific Islanders. Spanish-Hispanics are white. White people from Israel, South African, and Australian are what ‘races?’ What creates their ‘races?’ Customs? Family tradition? Skin-colors are basically ‘white.’
Lou and I are technically ‘white.’ Beyond skin color our family traditions, and customs put us in totally different ‘races.’ Could there be prejudices between our ‘races?’
Until Covid-19, I thought I had my spiritual house ‘in order.’ Then, I began fasting, seeking God on a deeper level of personal trust.
Sin must be dealt with, when a person seeks to go deeper with Lord God. One day Holy Spirit flashed Light into the back corner of my heart. Lurking there was disrespect, equalling murder, (per Jesus’ beatitudes,) towards Lou’s ‘race.’ Jeremiah 17:9ESV “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Only Holy Spirit can look into the depths of a person’s heart and see everything. I was totally unaware of the sin. Repentance was necessary. God forgives.
Love of the God kind and total acceptance of Lou’s ‘race’ could’ve prevented the anger lurking deep inside my heart. Holy Spirit showed me several times, where retaliation had undermined our relationship.
As I looked at this, I realized— many ‘racial’ wars take place in marriages, even families of the same skin-color. Everyone of these wars could be solved with love. If I love— I don’t —tease, —judge another’s heart or motives, —look down on ‘aka’ disrespect, —undercut, —try to make feel inferior, —talk behind their back, —laugh at, —name call, —disrespect their family of origin, —buy things selfishly, which can’t be shared, —exclude from activities, —cheat sexually with another, AND whatever you feel isn’t truly loving or being loved by another.
Our text cuts to the core, “Love makes it impossible to harm another.” If we could see this in our marriages— WOW. If we could see this in our churches— WOW. In our neighborhoods— WOW. In our nation— WOW. These fifty states are made up of every ethnic, racial, interracial group on the planet.
Will we “LOVE?” “…You shall love your neighbor as yourself” Matthew 19:19ESV? It your choice. You choose.
PRAYER: Lord God of covenants with all races, forgive us for not loving our neighbor as ourselves. As we go deeper into You, reveal the sin and cleanse us per 1John 1:9 in Jesus’ name I pray.
by Debbie Veilleux Copyright 2020 You have my permission to reblog this devotional for others. Please keep my name with this devotional as author. Thank you.
