Almost any child who has been to Sunday School or been raised in a Christian family will recognize these words:

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red, brown, yellow, black, and white—
They are precious in His sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

And Jesus doesn’t only love children. He died and rose again for grownups too. So by extrapolation we could also sing:

Jesus loves each and every grownup,
All the grownups of the world.
Red, brown, yellow, black, and white—
They are precious in His sight.
Jesus loves all the grownups of the world.

Now, we could stop and have a heated debate over the political correctness of referring to any people group nowadays as “red,” “yellow,” or “brown” (though for some reason “black” and “white” still fly), but let’s not get lost in minutia—clearly the song’s lyricist, preacher Clarence H. Woolston, was trying to be inclusive. And the point is this: even children used to understand something very basic that we have lost in our modern, “enlightened” society. Each of us—because we have been individually formed by an all-wise, all-loving Creator—has intrinsic value regardless of the color of our skin, because we are eternal souls created with an eternal purpose—to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

We in the church need to lead the way by proclaiming oneness in Christ and demonstrating unity with our brothers and sisters in the Lord. America used to be known as a melting pot—not because various groups lost their individuality by settling here but because they learned to live peaceably with those whose customs and cultures might differ from their own and because the majority of those who came here to enjoy America’s freedom realized their opportunity existed thanks to America’s godly heritage, so they were willing to pass that history down to their children as they became part of America’s story themselves.

We must not allow the Marxists to divide us—to turn us against one another, to destroy the progress that has been made since the time when Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed that his children would “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” We must not allow them to tear at the already fraying fabric of our society and rend us in two. And we mustn’t assume that fixing this is somebody else’s job. Americans have too long been leaving the work of the family and the church to the government. If each of us would just purpose to do what God has given us to do in our homes, in our churches, in our communities, we could begin to mend America’s fabric and restore some hope of a bright future to our children and our children’s children.

So get out there and love your neighbor—red, brown, yellow, black, or white—because Jesus does. Whether infant or aged, rich or poor, urban or rural, sick or well, Jew or Gentile, religious or not, God created that person and he bears His image. Or she bears His image. As do you. Forget about the externals; focus on what matters. Look past your neighbor’s skin color and see the heart. Because at heart we are all just sinners. We are either sinners in need of repentance or sinners saved by grace. That’s what matters.

Eternity is ahead of us, and our days and hours are numbered, but God is not willing that any should perish. When that trumpet sounds, God is not going to verify whether anyone is in a particular people group. Rather, Jesus is going to call His Bride from all the countries of the earth—every tribe and tongue. He is coming for every precious soul covered by the blood of the Lamb. And in that day of immediate transformation into Christlikeness, His followers will all get “race relations” right for the rest of eternity. But we don’t have to wait for the Rapture. Through the process of sanctification, we can have a tiny bit of Heaven on earth today by simply loving God, loving each other.

Copyright © 2020

Notes:

Third full paragraph—concerning Marxism, a quote from a 2015 video interview with Patrisse Cullors (co-founder of Black Lives Matter): “We actually do have an ideological frame, myself and Alicia [Garza] in particular are trained organizers. We are trained Marxists. We are super-versed on sort of ideological theories.” Cristian Laila, author of the article on Gateway Pundit where I first saw the video clip, writes: “Black Lives Matter is seeking to transform America by defunding the police, dismantling capitalism, ‘destroying the patriarchy,’ breaking down the nuclear family unit, emptying prisons, redistributing wealth in the form of reparations among other far left objectives.” And, “Their goal is to bring chaos where there is order, fan the flames of class warfare and demonize Christians and conservatives.”

Laila’s article did not include notation, so I did a little digging of my own and was able to both read and view statements which lend unfortunate credence to her summary by visiting the websites for Black Lives Matter and Dignity and Power Now (which was also founded by Cullors and was created to “end state violence and mass incarceration”) as well as viewing various videos featuring Cullors that are available on YouTube, including one from 2018 where she says, “Whenever people are not getting the things that they deserve, and we can see this across the world—look at Egypt—people are going to rise up.” [all italics mine]. Another from the 2015 video referenced above: “We wanted to call a new black liberation movement that centered on those most at the margin as a part of a political frame to challenge the current system that we live in.” And from the BLM website: “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another…”

There are also many supporting statements in the document “A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom, and Justice,” which details various demands and recommendations from activist and advocacy groups working in coalition with Black Lives Matter. You can read it for yourself here: https://neweconomy.net/sites/default/files/resources/20160726-m4bl-Vision-Booklet-V3.pdf

Disturbingly, Americans are being told not only what they should or should not say (such as being dissuaded from altering the hashtag for BLM as I did for the title of this article) but also that what they do choose to say cannot mean what they want it to! Cullors (from the 2015 video) again: “When we use things like ‘all lives matter,’ or when we say things like ‘our lives matter’ we are actually negating black life, whether that’s intentionally or unintentionally.” I must respectfully disagree. And, to be clear, when I use the phrase “all lives matter,” what I actually mean to be understood by it is this: all lives matter.

Fourth full paragraph—in case “infant or aged” is too subtle in today’s society, let me be explicit. It is God who creates and sustains life, and God who has the right to determine when life is over. Those who wink at abortion and laugh at euthanasia will find in the end that God does neither.

“For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holden up from the womb.” Psalm 71:5+6a

The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. I Samuel 2:6

Fifth full paragraph—I chose to use the term “race relations” here because it is widely recognized, but I include it in quotation marks because in reality, Scripture shows we are all one blood (all descended from Adam and Eve), one race—human. That is why the blood of Christ is able to cover any soul on earth from any tribe or nation if that person but asks Him for salvation. (See Acts 17:26-28, a part of Paul’s address at Athens.)