Skin Color Is Temporary
by Jonathan Perz
One of the great spiritual ironies of "race" (as it relates to the color of a person's skin) is the fact that at some point, we will all be changed. Consider the words of the apostle Paul"
"All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. ... Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory'” (I Corinthians 15:39, 50–54, NKJV).
We do not know exactly what we will look like after this change, but we can know that we will be changed. With so much emphasis being placed on treating one another differently based on the color of our skin, I find it absolutely astounding that this "flesh" we seem so bent on dividing over is the self-same "flesh" that will not inherit the kingdom of God. While we cannot help but recognize the things people have ignorantly suffered due to the color of their skin, we need to recognize that the color of our skin has absolutely no bearing on the status of our soul and our entrance into heaven. God sees our flesh as disposable and our souls as eternal. Thus, it is what we do in the flesh and the quality of our character that we must emphasize, not the color of our skin. "Race" is wholly a human construct, as Paul reminds here: "There is one kind of flesh of men" (I Corinthians 15:39). We are all created in the image of God and we shall "all be changed."
