Sometimes I wish we could be color-blind.

This is my family. I hope you see. It doesn’t matter to me if they are black or white. The color I do not see. I love them all equally.

I still remember the day when our son Kade came home one day from kindergarten. In class, they discussed the history of MLK. He seemed a bit puzzled and asked, “Mom, my teacher kept referring to black people. What does that mean?” I tried to explain that it was the color of someone’s skin. Yet puzzled, he replied, it doesn’t make any sense to me. Why would anyone treat anyone differently because God has made all of us individually unique?

It breaks my heart to live in a racially divided world. To see people become divisive because of the color of our skin. And as I look abroad at the world that I now live in, it breaks my heart to see all of the areas where we just can’t seem to get along.

Social issues

Political parties

Religious barriers

At times, it seems too much to bear. What has happened to the words of our mothers, “You all need to figure out a way to get along.” But rather than confronting the issues at hand, we have pushed them aside and avoided the problem. We’ve tried to push the hard stuff to the back crevices of our mind.

But now, we cannot avoid it anymore. The water is boiling in the kitchen. We must come and face the issue. We must confess that we’ve run for far too long. The hurts are deep and heavy, and I’m afraid I don’t know what to do. But I know God, He has the answers. Before we do anything at all, let’s get on our knees and come to Him for help.

Our problems are not completely new. It seems that people have always struggled to get along. I have a son from another race, and it breaks my heart to think some might not think as highly of him. It isn’t fair. It isn’t right. But anger will not get us anywhere. It is going to take a change of heart that can only come from above.

The Apostle Paul gave instruction to the believers of his time. He urged his brothers and sisters in Christ, “C’mon, we’ve got to get along.” We do so by walking worthy of the calling to which we have been called. Rather than stirring up anger, let’s stir up others to love and mercy, and be unified in the Lord.

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesian 4:1-7

Rather than being part of the problem, we can do something now. We can reach across cultural barriers, and get to know someone that isn’t of the like-mind. We can have difficult conversations and bear each other up in love. We can eagerly maintain unity because we have been called to love.

This is a call to action. A call to seek God’s help. To walk in a worthy manner…to which you have been called. To eagerly maintain unity, even when you don’t receive proper support. To do that which is unpopular, because after all, God did the same for you.

Ask God what He would have you do.