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Key Bible Verse: Esther had not told anyone of her nationality and family background (Esther 2:10).Bonus Reading: Ephesians 2:12-13

After the same seminar, a young African American man came forward and said, "I grew up in a black middle-class neighborhood. I'll never forget the first time a white classmate called me a nigger. I couldn't understand why he had such hatred for me. As a child I felt like there must be something wrong with me to justify his anger. I think that even crystallized in me the sense of shame that my daddy had and that I carry, even to this day, in being black."

People of color are constantly bombarded by negative messages that damage self-esteem. But to reject yourself and your ethnic background is to reject the person God made you to be. Despising His good and beautiful creation must be recognized for what it is: a sin. You must renounce your false identity of self-hatred and confess that you are God's good creation.

It's a glorious thing to watch people of color who've internalized a sense of rejection and even hatred of their background begin to come free and stand up with dignity. This is the dignity God accords to all cultures and ethnicities; each in unique ways becomes an expression of His glory and image in the world.

—Rick Richardson in The Heart of Racial Justice

My Response: What are strengths of my ethnic heritage that I should celebrate?

Thought to Apply: God created people ethnically different for a reason. If we downgrade people of other races, we're downgrading God.—BILL BROOKS (former Buffalo Bills wide receiver)

Adapted from The Heart of Racial Justice (InterVarsity, 2004) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Thank you, Lord, for creating my good and beautiful ethnic ancestors and their culture. Help me to embrace my true self in Christ.

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