There was a song that was sung when I was a child, that went something like this. “Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” Maybe you sang it too. It was a simple little song to speak of how God looks at the nationalities and ethnic groups of the world. He sees us the same and loves us the same.

People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. I Samuel 16:7 (New Living Translation, NLT)

God views us all as equals, regardless of the color of our skin. However, God is not color-blind. He enjoys the differences we all bring to the table. Our traditions and cultural differences should be celebrated. What makes us unique should be valued and not marginalized.

For example, my ancestors mostly came from Germany. Of course, my background will be different than someone with ancestors from Latin America or from Africa. We should respect and honor the things passed down from one generation to the next to preserve the cultural heritage and ethnic identity of a people. We seem to think that the races must all be the same in order for us to get along. That is not so. It defeats the purpose of us being different. We all enhance one another.

We seem to enjoy sampling the foods of other cultures, but that seems to be as far as we want to go. But, instead, let’s make an attempt to understand the history, tradition, and holidays of other cultures. For instance, right now we are in the celebration of Hanukkah. How many of us understand why the Jewish people celebrate it? Why is it called the Festival of Lights? Why is it celebrated for eight days? Did Jesus celebrate Hanukkah? That is your homework- go to the internet and find out the answers to these questions.

As long as the practices of a culture do not honor the devil or celebrate evil, we should honor them and seek to learn about them. The more we understand one another, the more we value one another- and that makes for a better world. “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.”