Our Own Kind

In the first chapter of the Bible in Genesis, we read of God creating the heavens, earth, plants and living creatures.  God created all living things to reproduce after their own kind, and we observe this happening to this day.  Over and over it is repeated that grass and fruit trees produced seeds that yielded according to their kind; birds, fish and living creatures brought forth after their own kind.  Genesis 1:26-27 reads, "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Mankind is distinct from all other living creatures because we have been created in the image of God who put eternity in our hearts (Ecc. 3:11), breathed into Adam the breath of life and made him a living soul.  All human beings today share the common ancestry of Adam and Eve, and after the great flood all descended from Noah and his family whom God spared from death.  Though there are different ethnicities, languages and homelands that distinguish human beings from one another, we are all human kind.  God has united us as mankind, yet man's natural tendency is to divide, to focus on differences rather that the one LORD who created us in His own image.

I read an article recently that illustrated well a misconception that conflates various ethnicities to mean different kinds.  A Hispanic border patrol recruit who could be stationed at the U.S. and Mexico border was asked, "How do you feel about arresting your own kind?"  The recruit responded, "They didn‘t come in the right way. So, they aren‘t my kind."  The premise to this question was deeply flawed from a biblical perspective, for every human being is our "own kind."  It is a great shame as people created in the image of God we would view some people as our kind but dismiss other human beings because of their ethnicity or because they entered a country illegally--than any person would be viewed as less than human.  While the question was intended to be provocative, Christians ought to be peacemakers who extend grace to every nation, tribe and tongue because we have all been created in the image of God who loves us all.

The early church experienced growing pains in walking in grace towards other believers when it was customary for Jews to separate themselves from Gentiles.  Walking uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel meant we are not to call unclean what God has cleansed, for Jews to put upon Gentiles the burden of keeping the Law of Moses, or for Gentiles to compel Jews to forsake their God-honouring traditions.  The love of God ought to govern us to do good towards all--especially those of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).  God's love helps us to be considerate of people's differences and to celebrate them rather than force people to conform to our preferences.  May the love of Christ be expressed through us to all people, untainted by bigotry, racism and partiality.