pA lot of us are like the lady in the prayer meeting who said, ‘I love everybody’ - while she had her eyes closed. Discrimination makes us accept without question the opinions and biases we’ve heard growing up, and the pronouncements of narrow-minded people. Rarely do we stop and ask, ‘Is this right?’ Or more importantly, ‘Is it Christlike?’ Discrimination relegates people to second-class citizenship because of their colour, gender, economic status, church denomination, or their family’s circumstances. Sometimes our biases are so ingrained that we can’t see them in ourselves and we react in anger when confronted with them. But God doesn’t let us off the hook. Paul challenged Peter, the future head of the church, over the sin of discrimination: ‘He [Peter] used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they [the Jews] arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group’ (Galatians 2:12 NIV). Paul didn’t give Peter a free pass because he had other redeeming qualities. No, his behaviour was hurting people and reflecting badly on the church. One of the most frequently-quoted texts in the Bible is: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16 NIV). Note the words ‘whoever believes’. That means we’re all equal at the foot of the cross. There God makes no distinctions. And before you can deal with the prejudice in someone else’s life, you’ve first got to deal with it in your own. So acknowledge your hidden biases and deal with them./p
pWhat Now?br /
Think about the last time you were in a room full of strangers. Who did you feel comfortable striking up a conversation with? Next time you're in that situation, make an effort to talk to someone you wouldn't usually approach./p