Made In God's Image

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***In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, I want to share this Devotional I did last year. Racism is not something unique to the black/white issues we have here in the US. Racism, dividing people due to whatever differences there may be has been around from early biblical times, and is one of satan's most powerful weapons.

Now, more than ever the Church of Jesus Christ must rise above these divisive tactics. Unfortunately one of the most glaring examples of racism in our nation occurs each Sunday morning at 11 am in churches all over the nation. I applaud the many fine churches that have worked hard to tear down these barriers, and are a snapshot of Heaven with people who are black, white, brown, red, and yellow all coming together to praise, worship, and glorify their God and His Son Jesus Christ.

I pray that as you read these words, during this time we honor the incredible achievements of African-Americans in this country, you will ask God what role you can play in helping tear down the walls of division. I am so thankful that Liveprayer brings together over 1.8 million people worldwide every day, bound only by the love of Jesus Christ. People of every color, from most every nation, from ages 12 to 96, from every walk of life, rich and poor, and FROM EVERY CHRISTIAN DENOMINATION AND CHURCH GROUP. They are all simply looking for the hope we all need in this life, the hope that can only come from knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

DAILY DEVOTIONAL TUESDAY JANUARY 20, 2002
(Genesis 1:27)

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Made in God's image. I guess I was very blessed growing up. My parents and church taught me at a young age that all men, that is ALL men, are created equal and in the image of God. Going to high school in the early 70's, I was part of the new forced busing initiatives at that time in our country and ended up attending a school that was 90% African-American. I played sports, had a great time in high school and never even thought much about the skin color of the people who were part of my daily life.

After graduation, I went to college at Ohio State University which has a tremendous population of foreign students which made it possible to interact with people from many different cultures and backgrounds. I worked in high school and college in a Chinese restaurant and my best friend was Chinese.

After college, I married a woman from Korea and have totally enjoyed that culture, having visited Korea dozens of time. Currently 50% of the Board of Directors of my ministry are African-American. During the first years of my ministry when I was on the road holding evangelistic services all over the country, I preached in many Korean, Spanish, Romanian, African-American churches, as well as those of other ethnic backgrounds.

I have been blessed to have been exposed to many people of different races and cultural backgrounds in my life. That is why I have always been so disgusted when I see the racial divides in this country. You don't have to be much of an historian to realize that the racial tensions in this country are no different, actually pretty tame, compared to the racial tensions in other countries in the world today and throughout time.

The Bible is full of stories of racial tensions. Unfortunately, one of the enemy's strongest weapons is that of division. The ability to divide people by race, speech, skin color, finances, location, or anything else we can think of has been one of Satan's most effective tools of destruction. In our weakness, we fall into this trap so often.

Let me tell you right now, there is only one distinction that is going to matter for eternity. That is whether or not you know Jesus Christ as your personal savior. There are not going to be lines for Japanese, whites, wealthy, those with blue eyes, or for Baptists, Pentecostals, or Catholics. My friend, there are only going to be two lines when this life is over. The line for those who know Jesus Christ and the line for those who have rejected Jesus Christ!!!

My Bible says that God made man in His own image. Not white men in His own image, or black men in His own image, or Asian men in His own image.... MAN. We are ALL created equal. GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSON! I want to challenge you today to quit looking at why the person next to you may be different, and start looking at the person next to you as to whether or not they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Their skin color is not important, but the condition of their heart is!!!

God sent His Son to die for the sins of this world, so that WHOEVER believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life. Quit worrying about the nationality of your neighbor and worry about his eternal destination. Let me encourage you today to start looking at the people God places in your life in a different way. Don't dwell on how they may be different, but see how God may use you to open their heart to knowing Christ as their Savior.

I love you, care about you, and am praying for you. My prayer today is that you will open your heart and look at your fellow man as God does.... as a human soul made in God's image that has the same problem we all are born with, sin. Let God use you to reach people regardless of the differences there may be, because in the end all men will live for eternity. How they respond to this man called Jesus will determine where that eternity is spent.

In His love and service,
Your friend and bother in Christ,
Bill Keller

If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com.

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now available via audio each day. Simply go to http://www.liveprayer.com/DailyDevotionalAudio.html. Click on "Search by Category", then locate DAILY DEVOTIONAL. I want to thank Ed Morando for making this service available for FREE to Liveprayer.com.

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