Daily Devotions
How the Gospel Destroys Prejudice
Reading for December 13th: 1 Thessalonians 1-5
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 (NKJV)
Prejudice is a combination of two words: Pre and Judge. A prejudice is when you have made judgments about someone before you really get to know them. You've judged them to be lazy or superficial or materialistic or indifferent or rebellious not based on anything you have learned by observing their character up close and personal, but because of their ethnicity, nationality, skin color, socioeconomic background, etc.
Prejudices are convenient because they help simplify our world. They make it easier for us. We don't have to listen. We don't have to open up our heart to someone and then get hurt later. We don't have to feel guilty about not helping someone because we have already concluded it won't do any good.
But the gospel of Christ does not give us the luxury of making superficial judgments about people. The gospel compels us to love others as we love ourselves. It forces us to listen with a view to understanding. It makes us more willing to take risks, seeking to learn more about people we don't naturally trust in a different light, according to who they really are and not just what they appear to be.
Father, may the gospel of grace transform the way we see one another, to see one another as you see us!
