FEBRUARY 10

ACTS 17:26

GOD LOVES PEOPLE OF ALL RACES...

Brett struggled with the color chart. "Why is Mrs. Lam making such a big deal about primary and secondary colors before letting anyone paint?", he wondered.

"Brett, please come up front and take the red color card," said Mrs. Lam. Brett looked at the cards resting on the chalk ledge of the blackboard. Then he lifted a card, and everyone laughed. " That’s enough, class," said Mrs. Lam sternly. She turned to Brett. "Take the red card, please," she said. "Not the green one."

Brett frowned. "I’m color-blind," he said softly. "It’s hard for me to tell red from green." "Oh!" said Mrs. Lam in surprise. "I didn’t know that. We’ll excuse you then and let someone else help with this demonstration." Brett returned to his seat, feeling like everyone was looking at him.

At recess time, Brett played with a boy of a di erent nationality from his own. "Hey, Brett," called one of his classmates, "no wonder Siva is your best friend. You can’t tell that he’s a different color."

"Ignore him," Brett told Siva. "He’s so dumb!" Brett could never understand people who decided to not like a person based on skin color. During science class a little later, the subject of color-blindness came up again. Brett was asked several questions about it. "You mean that lots of times you don’t know what color things are?" asked one girl.

Brett grinned. "It doesn’t matter what color they are," he said. "Red apples are good and so are yellow ones. Green grapes are good and so are purple or red ones. Color isn’t what makes something good or bad." He took a deep breath, and then continued. " That’s true of people, too. God made every person, and He made them all the same in value." He looked at the boy who had teased him at recess, and added, "I think everyone should be ‘color-blind’ when it comes to seeing people."

"Good for you, Brett," approved his teacher. "You’re absolutely right."

Thought: Do you develop opinions about others based on skin color? Don’t forget that God made everyone special. Outward appearance, or things like whether that person is good-looking or wealthy does not make him any more or less valuable in God’s sight, and it shouldn’t make him more or less valuable in your sight, either.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, teach me indeed to understand today’s message that I must befriend people of all races and not be prejudiced by things like race, looks, wealth... In Jesus’ name – amen.