Are We All Equal And Even?
Good evening folks, as you can see I have decided to write to you on the subject matter of if we are all of equal value both in our own human eyes and in the eyes of our Creator. Let’s break the two words down separately for a moment, define them and see if they come back together in the end. I looked the words up in the Webster Dictionary and this is what it had to say. Equal: same in number, style, merit, fit or qualified, evenly balanced, one equal to another. Then for the word Even: uniform in quality, equal in amount, impartial, invites comparison.
I do hope that with age that we all do learn from the life that we have lived, good, bad and the ugliness of our societies we survive within. I know that our Lord said for us to “not put those of gray hair away, for in the gray hair on man lies the wisdom of the world.” I used to wonder for years how any of us humans could possibly think of ourselves as being superior or as subordinate to other people then at the age of 22 I had an eye opening reality slap me in the face and I was given the answer. At the age of 22 I left northern Illinois where I had lived for 12 years and moved back to the town I was born in which is in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia. From the ages of 10-17 I attended our local Church of Christ but from 17-22 I have to admit that I didn’t attend very often. So, when I moved back to the home of my family roots I decided that I would start going back to Church at their local Church of Christ.
I attended this Church for three weeks when on one Sunday evening the Preacher turned in his 30 day notice of his quitting. He and his family were not local folks, in fact they were “Yankees”, they were from the state of Pennsylvania so quite honestly I was a bit surprised that he had even even been hired there as some of the folks in that region are still fighting the Civil War within their own minds. That Sunday evening after the Preacher had given his notice I met him at the door and told him that I had been thinking about making this the Church the place I was going to be a regular at so could he tell me what was troubling him so much that he decided to quit and leave the area. What the man told be both shocked me and woke me up at the same time. What he said was that it is the Church Leadership’s opinion here that the only people who have Souls, are white people. Seriously, that is what he said, I never ever stepped foot in that building again.
For years I had wondered how it was possible that some people throughout history to treat each other as horribly as we have. How was it possible for the atrocities of the slave trade of years ago and to this current date? How was it possible that the government of our Nation (USA) to have ever worked to eliminate a whole race of people like they did all throughout the 1800’s with the Native Americans. How could a government or a major ruling race say to another that “you are less than I am because you don’t have the same skin color as me or because your religion is somewhat different than what we believe.” How phony can a person or persons be? One of the thoughts that I have pondered throughout the years is just how does a person think they will be able to justify their ego’s and their hatreds when they step in front of the Judgement Seat of our Creator? How could it be possible for me to believe that it is okay with our Creator for me to treat people of a different skin color or from another country than I am as if they are less important than I am?
Friends, it took me a long time before I finally understood this reality, it took me a long time to “get it.” People treat other people as ‘sub-humans’ because that is what they believe inside themselves. This ‘truth’ is both sad and scary at the same time. This reality does also extend to financial class hatred of each other. Things like I hate you because you are richer than me or, I hate you because you have less than me. So many do try to puff their own selves up by squashing and demeaning all others. Truly, Demons do walk this Earth among us and they are as starving Lions looking for whom they may devour. The truth is that many people actually do believe that all other people are ‘less’ than they are. That at best, only a few other people are Equal to themselves. Many people of this egotistical world do not believe that others should be considered or treated as “Even” or allowed onto the playing field of life with themselves.
Jesus tells us plainly over and over again that God IS NOT a respecter of persons. He is telling us that one person is not better than another. Whether we are a King, a President or a person who cleans toilets for a living and lives under a bridge, we are all of equal importance to God our Creator. Salvation is given by God to all people of the Earth, to all Nations, to all Languages. Why is it that some of us humans seem to think that we can slander God’s human creations and demean them? How is it possible that we can think we will not be held accountable by our own Creator of these sins? Friends, it is all of us who are not “Equal, Even” or sufficient, not of our own abilities. It is only by the Mercy, Grace and Power of our Creator that any of us have ever drawn a single breath. Folks it is by our ‘works, our actions’ that we are known. If we hate our brother without a cause, we at our own Judgement will be looked upon by the Hosts of Heaven, God’s Angels and our Creator Himself as nothing more than a murderer.
Just think of this, if we humans would do this one thing, to love one another as Jesus has loved us, then most of the worlds ills would go away. Love, kindness, goodness, charity, and mercy, what an abstract thought in our society today. When a child comes forth out of the womb it is Equal, it is Even, it is the humans around the child that teaches them both truth and errors, love and hate.