My God is colorblind. It’s not that He doesn’t know our race. God knows everything. It’s that He doesn’t care. Skin color is not His concern, hearts are. Black or white, what God sees are men and women created in His image.

A few years ago, I met a young man on a flight to Birmingham from a meeting I attended in Tampa, FL. It was during all the media hype resulting from the killing of Trayvon Martin. Reggie was black, in the military and stationed overseas. As we talked, I wondered how familiar he was with the case and what he thought about it, but I never asked. Our conversation went in a different direction, faith. Not long into the conversation I realized the blessing of getting to know Reggie. I had met a brother, not a black brother, a Christian brother. I shared this in a post entitled My God is Colorblind. Well, here we are a couple years later and just as the Trayvon Martin case brought race relations to the forefront of public discussion and media attention, the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York, have reopened the wounds. Now, I don’t profess to know the complete details of these cases nor the motives of people’s hearts, but I do know this—my God is still colorblind.  

One of the things I love most about my job is that I’m not confined to a desk or an office all day. I’m out and about, in and out of offices where I have many opportunities to see interaction between people, not only people of different color, but people with other differences as well. Do I sometimes see division; of course, but I refuse to believe there exists the degree of racism and mistrust between most blacks and whites as is made out to be the case by our media. They seem most interested in fanning the flame. With that said, I’m also not naive enough to believe that racism doesn’t still exist in our nation. It was certainly a part of our past, a sinful part and where and in whatever form it exists today, it is still sinful.

It’s interesting that with few exceptions, when our media and our politicians discuss strategies for better race relations, less crime or whatever may be ailing our nation in the moment, Jesus is rarely mentioned as part of the solution. In all the talk, we keep hearing about the need for a conversation. I couldn’t agree more about that need, but the conversation that needs to be had is one about Jesus. I can’t help but believe that part of what contributes to our problems as a nation is our exclusion of God from His rightful role above all things and our humble submission to Him as Creator and Lord. Until we consider our likeness in Christ above all else, the other differences between us will reign. If we got that right our problems might not go away, but it would give us something to unify around.

Thankfully, when God looks at us He doesn’t see a black or white man, He sees a man. He doesn’t see a black or white woman, He sees a woman. Can we ever see like God does? No, but we should always be moving in that direction, becoming more and more like Christ. When God saves He secures eternity for us, but the transformation in us lasts forever in this lifetime. We will always be clay in the Potter’s hand. The Holy Spirit will always be at work breaking down the walls we have built to keep others who are not like us out. We should pray that our hearts are wide open to God’s work in us. We can never live each other’s experiences. The truth is the plight of some has been and is more difficult than others. However, the greater truth is that for all that makes us different, nothing compares to the unity to be found in Jesus Christ. I am convinced the more we see of Christ, the less we’ll see of color. Let us seek the Lord with our whole heart. Let us be thankful for the forgiveness of sin. Let us cling to the cross and the Savior who died on it. And let us live in response to His grace by allowing Jesus’ voice to drown out all the others.