Crayon Box

Crayon Box

17 ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely [b]rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:17-18

Imagine three children sharing the same box of crayons, which has nine colors in all. One child has the black, brown, and yellow. One has red, blue, and white. The other, green, grey, and tan. They all sit down to draw a picture and each of them starts asking the other for a color they need to draw. “Can I borrow the blue?” one says. “I’d like the black crayon,” the owner of the blue crayon replies. The third child asks for the yellow and gives the first child the green. As they finish their artwork, they all share colors, never questioning the inherent value of each color. They realize that each color is of value because each one has a different variation, bringing vibrancy and depth to their creations.

I wonder what God thought when he separated humanity at Babel, sending them to various parts of the world and creating many of the races and cultures we have today. Did he have in mind that their form and shape, their color and tone, their culture and race, would all complement each other? Did he intend to create a work of art in humanity, so that we might learn to appreciate our differences as gifts from God, so that there is more than one color and shape in which we see God’s image and glory in man? 

Take eye color, hair color, height, shape, even our smile. Take every fingerprint uniquely made by the maker’s design, by God’s own hand. Realize that every hair on every head in every place in the world is numbered, and that God invested His only begotten son in each person we see before us. We are not to hate our brother or sister of humanity. We are not to sin when someone treats us poorly, or does something to us, or sin because of their reaction towards us. We are not to bear a grudge against the children of humanity, but love our neighbors, all people, just as we love ourselves.

Let us be children who see the colors and shapes and personalities and differences we see in others a God’s expression of love, as precious souls made by God, and may we never hate or disrespect any person created in God’s image, regardless of their differences from us. Let us love those who reflect the beauty and glory of the Creator in the face of the one who looks different than you in flesh, but just the same in soul and spirit.

God bless this week,

Michael