“Racial prejudice, anti-Semitism, or hatred of anyone with different beliefs has no place in the human mind or heart.” — Billy Graham
What is one thing every person on Earth seeks — whether they know it or not?
They seek love and acceptance.
Each one of us longs to know that we matter to another person; that another wishes the best for us; that we can be in relationships with others.
This longing starts in infancy with the pangs of separation anxiety.
It is then felt as a child does things to please a parent by doing their best in school or in other activities.
It continues in adolescence with the search for friends, or a boyfriend or a girlfriend.
This same longing continues as one seeks a life-long mate.
Not everyone receives the kind of love and acceptance sought from other people. Criticisms, rejections and times of inattention leave emotional scars of various sizes. If the scars are large enough and the hurt is deep enough, a person can develop some severe and inappropriate emotional responses to life.
One of those is prejudice. People who have been hurt tend to lump all persons similar to the perpetrator into the same group. All those who look like or act like the one who hurt them are considered “bad,” and are to be avoided or attacked — verbally or physically.
To be prejudiced is to pre-judge someone without knowing who they are as a human being.
Humanity was not created to be at odds with each other. We were created to be in relationship with each other.
God gave us the gift of free choice to use as we see fit.
We can choose to be prejudiced or accepting. We can choose to let our emotional hurts turn us into bitter persons, or let them help us grow. We can choose to see the good in humanity or the bad.
It comes down to recognizing your own worth as a child of God. It comes down to recognizing the worth of others as children of God.
If you want to be loved and accepted, you need to be loving and accepting of others. What you give is what you will receive.
“A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart. Whatever is in your heart determines what you say.” — Jesus of Nazareth
The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FROM THE PULPIT: You reap what you sow