People love to hate. It is in our nature to pick a side and then proceed to throw stones or hurl insults at the other side. We desire to be a part of a group that can provide us security, affirm our opinions, and give us a platform from which we can be united against those who don’t share our feelings or convictions. It often starts very early in our youth when we join that special “clique” of friends and then proceed to ostracize those who aren’t in our “club”. As we grow up, we learn to apply this same attitude and ideology to politics, sports, foreign cultures, and even which car we drive! (i.e. Are you a Ford or a Chevy person?) Having learned to draw these arbitrary battle lines, and since skin color and cultural differences between races are such an easy target, we often see racism creep into our worldview as well.

The dictionary defines racism as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior”. Now the Bible tells us that every person on planet earth was descended from Noah and his wife (and earlier from Adam & Eve). God also told us that He “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). So it is clear from a scriptural perspective that when we discuss the “races”, we are dividing people into arbitrary groups that God has not condoned. Our world has placed an arbitrary dividing line between groups of people based on skin color and culture. While nobody is blind to these differences between people groups, it often develops into racism when these distinctions are used to create polarization, develop prejudices, and ostracize those on the other side who aren’t in our “club”.

Over the past few weeks, we have seen an unjust abuse of power which resulted in a man’s death followed by a series of destructive acts, violence and rioting across our nation. The debate rages as to whether this racist and criminal behavior was isolated or whether racism is systemic. There have certainly been injustices and crimes committed on both sides of the rioting these past weeks, but not all those involved (on either side of the issue) are guilty of criminal acts. The systemic nature of racism, however, lies in its root which is sin. While everyone has this sin, not everyone exhibits racism. We all know people who show the love of Christ to others regardless of race or culture. But the sin root from which racism grows is inherently divisive, destructive, selfish and proud.

Even if you aren’t racist, there is some avenue where that divisive, destructive, selfish, and proud sin nature within you is trying to fester. We are constantly looking for new reasons to be against someone due to their political views, the culture they come from, the sports teams they support or even which brand of car they drive. So the root of racism is a systemic problem, but it goes back much farther than 400 years of political history. It goes back to that time in the garden of Eden when sin entered the human race and we were separated from the unity and harmony with God that we were created to enjoy.

Starved of that unity with God, mankind has yearned for some “clique” to fill the void. We create groups which define what is “better or worse”, “good or bad”, and “superior or inferior” because our hearts are chained in sin and need to be brought back to God’s side. Yet, God is the only one who is able to properly create that dividing line between “right and wrong” and from “sin and righteousness”. Our greatest need is to be united with God.

The good news? While we don’t have a cure yet for the virus that has kept us in quarantine for the past weeks, the Bible does offer a cure for the sin virus which leads to racism and division – Jesus Christ. Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? He died on the cross to become the cure for sin for ALL humanity. You can know that you are living on the right side of His justice even in a world where so much injustice continues to exist.

The Bible also gives us as Christians a way to respond biblically to what is going on today. Take the time to read and ponder Romans 12:14-21 and then ask yourself these questions:

• How has the divisive root of sin manifested itself in your life?
• What is preventing you from living “peaceably with all men”?
• Are you able to “bless them that persecute you”?
• Are you able to “weep with them that weep”?
• Could you be accused of being “wise in your own conceits”?
• Have you been taking vengeance into your own hands that rightly belongs to God? “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord”
• Have you been overcome by evil or have you “overcome evil with good”?