I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” – Genesis 12:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 1, 2012): Genesis 12

I think maybe all cultures are inherently selfish. And I guess that makes sense. If there is a perceived threat to the way that I live my life, my best defense is to band with other people that are also threatened and try to make a stand. And so we make decisions according to these groups that we form around us. This is the core element of our drive toward racism and nationalism - that we would protect those that like us, so that we can protect ourselves.

It is also the basic fear as our countries become more omni-racial. The quest for security becomes a little harder to understand. And the question that begins to be asked is this – with who do you identify? Is it with the nation, or with the race to which you belong? Recent history has proved that we don’t always make the right evaluations in these confusing circumstances.

  

It was that question during World War II that caused the Americans of Japanese descent to be locked up as possible enemies or spies. And more recently, it is the cause of many social problems in the West in regard to people of Arab descent. It becomes harder and harder to know who it is that we can trust, and our circles of cultural acceptance are getting smaller and smaller.

Maybe one of the most distasteful effects of this phenomenon is the effect it has had on the Christian Church. We seem to be becoming increasingly fractured and more prone to lashing out against other people groups. Unfortunately, that tendency cuts at the core of who we are as a faith group.

We are, by faith, the children of Abraham. And as the faith descendants of Abraham, we are called to reflect Abraham’s purpose. God said that he would bless Abraham so that Abraham could be a blessing to the entire world. It is this moment that establishes the DNA of the faith. We are to bless. While everyone around us makes decisions based on some evaluation of cultural security, we are called to be the ones that cross national, racial and cultural barriers to be a blessing to people that are not like us.

It is the purpose that we can’t afford to lose sight of – we are created and blessed so that we can be a blessing. We are the faith descendants of Abraham.

   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 13