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Have you ever suffered prejudicial treatment? It comes in all forms, and it seems this world is full of it. I’m quite certain that all of you know what it’s like to live in a world full of prejudice and hatred, where people are maligned and mistreated because of the color of their skin or their cultural heritage. We live in a world that is full of injustice, where fairness and fair play are rare commodities.
John wrote to the church in Pergamum in Revelation 2:13a: “I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name.” We are living in Satan’s territory, and one of his most effective tricks is to prejudice people against each other.
As believers, we must search our hearts and attitudes and make certain that we do not harbor any kind of prejudice that would cause us to treat people in unfair and hurtful ways. It could be that your parents taught you to be prejudiced, and you need to clean out that wrong teaching. Or maybe you have developed your own prejudice toward certain people or certain types.
There should be no trace of any kind of racial prejudice among Christians. We should be color-blind. Do you have friends of a different race? Do you fellowship with believers from another culture? If not, you are missing some enriching and wonderful blessings in your life.
You know, these prejudicial attitudes can be very subtle. For example, even though we know that homosexuality is a sin, we still should not have prejudicial attitudes toward people who are homosexual. They are people, created by God, loved by God, and we should not shun them because of their lifestyle. Many Christians have failed to understand that you can hate the sin but love the sinner. Thank goodness that is true, because we’re all sinners and yet God loves us.
Do you tend to treat people better or worse based on how they’re dressed, or how smart they are, or whether they’re important people or not? That is prejudicial treatment, and it is unbiblical.
It’s hard to live in this world and not be caught up in prejudice of some kind or another because it’s all around us. But like the church at Pergamum, Jesus knows where we live and he wants us to stay true to his name, to his standards, to his way right in the midst of all that prejudice. We can do it, because we have his power to do it in us. Remember, he knows where you live.