The backdrop of hostility between ethnic groups around the world offers God’s people an opportunity to pulsate with the affirmation that there is a varied but single human race, and to bear witness to the supernatural oneness of God’s kingdom.

Reconciliation has been a noble goal of believers and nonbelievers. Humanly devised programs of integration and equal opportunity sort out the races and fill quotas for cosmetic purposes. They give the appearance of progress but do little to change hearts. Nor does multiculturalism, a strategy of educating the races about each other. It supplies knowledge, but not a cure for human depravity, the wellspring of prejudice. Quotas and multicultural education can be helpful description, but they are limited in bringing about true connection. Using description in a fallen world is not necessarily the prescription.

The Kingdom of God has a lasting solution. As noble as it is to intermingle the races, something greater happens when each brings the best of their heritage and leaves their identity behind, collectively exchanging the former identity for a new one. Here there is truly “no Greek or Jew” (Col. 3:11). This is not a denial of the variety God has created, but a transcending of it.

Those that worship the Lord Jesus Christ can do this because they find their significance and security in Him and share a deep bond of fellowship far more important than their ethnic or patriotic identity.

Where Jesus is Lord, He is the source and supplier of everything we need. Under His government, citizens live in dependence upon the Lord for our needs. No longer preoccupied with our own interests, we can fearlessly invest in others. In the Body of Christ there is significance and security for everyone. We do not have to act out of rivalry or fear.

Surrender to Christ should nail the protective shell of prejudice to the Cross. At first, it may feel vulnerable to live out the implications. You might be called on to meet your enemy’s needs no matter the cost. If so, you’ll soon discover that Christ’s strength and resurrection power carry you.  Don’t be surprised to learn that ministry is reciprocal. Under the banner of Christ, there are not just givers or recipients. Every people group has something to offer and something to gain.

Jonah’s story illustrates the foolishness of saying “no” to our Father in heaven.  Jonah did not want to minister to the brutal Ninevites. Instead of going to Nineveh as commanded, he took a ship to Tarshish, refusing to bring a message inclusive of restoration to an abhorrent and unreasonable enemy. A decision to refuse God is bound to lead to stormy weather. How much trouble he could have avoided by obeying from the start!

Instead of taking Christ at His word, why do God’s people (like Jonah) remain in their social comfort zones? Dying to a comfort zone and to the fear and feuding that once vitalized territorial spirit rage is painfully courageous, but:

                If we suffer with Christ, we will reign with Him.

                If a grain of wheat dies, it will produce fruit.

               If we relinquish our mourning, God gives us a garment of praise.

               If we bring our sins to Him, He exchanges them for a robe of righteousness.

              Joy comes not in spite of sorrow, but because of sorrow.

Here is a reason to rejoice: We have inherited significance and security in Christ which replaces the fear of losing out to others. God’s kingdom is not a melting pot where identity is lost, but a potpourri where each contributes one’s own flavor and spice.

Amen (let it be so)!  In Christ, there really is only one race!