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Key Bible Verse: God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 3:10). Bonus Reading: Ephesians 3:6-11

In a racially tense world you'll have opportunities to balance callous words with opposing positive personal examples. Please take advantage of them.

I remember a tirade by an African American man in his fifties. He said he resented the Korean-owned grocery stores, liquor stores, and cleaners, as he put it, taking all the money from his community. He finished by saying, "I don't know one good Korean. Do you?"

I told him that I knew many good Korean people, those who owned shops and those who didn't.

 "Sure, Reverend," he pressed me, "I bet you don't even know one good Korean. Go ahead, name one. I'd like to meet him."

I retorted, "Then I'd like to invite you to my home for dinner because my wife is Korean, and she's lovely!" After he picked his jaw up off the floor, he realized how callous his words were and fell back in his chair.

Debating matters related to businesses in the inner city is a discussion worth having, but grouping those of one nationality with negative descriptors and generalized language was inappropriate.

—David Anderson in Gracism

My Response: A racial stereotype I'll reject because it isn't uniformly true is …

Thought to Apply: If God created people of different ethnic backgrounds, he did it for a reason. If we downgrade people of other races, we're downgrading God. —Bill Brooks (Buffalo Bills wide receiver)

Adapted from Gracism (InterVarsity, 2007) by permission.

Copyright © 2009 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

Lord, give me a fresh appreciation for the diverse richness of the Church you are forming.

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