Is 59:19

So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. [or, shall put him to flight]

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Inter-racial Marriage???

"For God shows no partiality" Romans 2:11

Our God doesn't play favorites. The young do not receive more attention than the old; the foreigner gets equal access to worship as the native ("You and the sojourner shall be alike before the LORD" Numbers 15:15b); and all nations and heritages receive equally of His grace and attention. Even the Jews, his chosen people, do not receive more of His heart than us, but being grafted into the vine (Romans 11:11-12) He delights for us ALL to be with Him where He is and see his glory (John 17:24).

Race, I believe, is a social construct. Yes, God did divide people by creating separate tongues to prevent the world from being able to accomplish all the evil man was capable of. This brings up a strong point about division. It works powerfully against the momentum of any movement. It is what God himself used to hinder mankind in their unified evil purposes. It is also what the enemy uses not infrequently against the Church. But that is a side track. We are talking about race.

There are separation of languages. There are nations created through the bloodlines of family trees. But what exactly is race supposed to mean? What is color? And why are some of us so against the combining of these differences in "inter-racial" marriage? Do we not see that this sort of thought process is actually causing division?

I guess that's my point. That inter-racial and inter-cultural marriages, when they are carried out lovingly and successfully in the body of Christ, serve to promote unity. They perform a valuable function in the Body's witness to who Jesus is by revealing His love for all people and the fact that He is not partial to any special inside group. Jesus is not about uniformity (look at the diversity of creation!) but He does care about unity. Thank you, Joel, for pointing that out.

So a note to all my friends out there are or who may one day be in an inter-racial/cultural relationship: I support you. Kudos to being the body and showing the world that God does not show partiality!

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