A Category of One

Having been a Christian school student, I remember how frustrated I was with some speakers who made sweeping statements about Christian school kids all being apathetic and hypercritical. They often praised the Christian teens in public schools because they seemed more authentic. And growing up in California, I discovered when I moved to the East that many assumed I would be wild, even wicked. What else could I be since I was born in Hollywood and reared on the left coast?

Whether prejudice is based in academic pedigree, denomination, race, social status, or anything else, it has the same consequences.

1. It ruins one’s relationship with God. Arrogance in thought, word, and deed is not something that slips His notice. Inflating oneself and deflating others builds a barrier between oneself and the Savior. God resists the proud.

2. It limits ministry. There would have been no revival in Sycar if Jesus had looked down on harlots. How often has revival gone unfulfilled because the inconsequential people were brushed aside?

There is hope for those of us who are on the receiving end of such prejudging. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” God longs to do extraordinary things with us—whether we have prestigious backgrounds or not. That consideration does not influence Him. Nor does it present Him with any obstacles to performing His will on our behalf.

Jesus was willing to take every person exactly where he was—a tax collector in a tree, a fishermen in a boat, or a child being pushed away by adults. He knew exactly how human each one was and yet reached out in a way that showed no condescension.

While Jesus takes us right where we are—He never leaves us there. He wants to raise us up and make us heirs of God. What point to criticize fellow heirs with Jesus Christ because they didn’t come through the same educational systems or grow up in the same place or have the same heritage?

If you ever find yourself prejudged into a category you know is faulty or one where you just do not belong, then do these things:

Take comfort in the fact that Jesus doesn’t prejudge because He knows exactly how it feels to be on the receiving end of such treatment.

Follow Christ’s lead in how to respond. When despised and rejected of men, he stayed quiet and actually forgave them because they knew not what they did. People really are clueless on how they hurt us. Not guiltless, mind you, but clueless. Even if they do mean it for harm, God still turns it for good.

Translate the feeling. You likely have lots of experience in being misunderstood, so consider how others feel when you misunderstand them. Let the experience of being prejudged tenderize you and inoculate you against joining the mass of humanity that is infected by the arrogance. All students are not the same, despite what school they attend. Nor are all Californians comfortable being in one category. Each person is in his own category as a human whom God created and died for. A category of one.

Esther Wilkison is a freelance writer and an educational speaker in South Carolina.