Issue 847 – What Colour? – September 7, 2022

What colour is the sky? Any child might tell you “blue during the day and black at night,” and they would be correct … sort of. The sky can change and appear to be a broad palette of colours, including red, orange, yellow, pink, purple (at sunrise and sunset) and black (at night). I have even seen it take on a greenish hue when tornados are nearby. 

As I took this shot, the sun was beginning to set, and the clouds reflected the yellows and pinks. I have always been fascinated by the varying colours of the sky and by clouds. The colours of the clouds in this one against the blue sky just caught my fancy. The different shades of blue from the “bottom” of the sky to the “top” also struck me.

Growing up, we often talked about the colour “sky-blue pink” because while we knew that while the sky was “supposed to be blue,” it appeared at times to be pink.

The refraction of light through water droplets can act as a prism giving us rainbows of colour in the sky with the entire visible colour spectrum showing up in an arch shape. I have often seen double rainbows, and on rare occasions, I have seen a triple.

The truth is the sky isn’t blue; it just appears that way most of the time to the human eye. If we lived on a different planet or had a different atmospheric mix, the sky would appear to be a different colour. If our eyes saw another range of colours, who knows how the sky might appear.

However, I didn’t intend this to be a science lesson; you can quickly look up the technical details yourself.

Okay, Kevin, the sky looks blue most of the time, “So what?”

It made me ponder what colour God is. Now, we know God is a spirit and doesn’t have a human form other than the incarnate Jesus. I assume when we see Him that at least His human form will look like a typical 1st-century Jewish man. Short, olive to dark skin and dark hair. He is unlikely to be a six-foot-tall Scandinavian, Zulu or East Asian man.

God created people in His image, who came in all shades, from albino to ebony black, with differing eye and hair colours and body types. Despite the differences in appearances, all are somehow in the image of God and loved by Him. All humans are physical descendants of one couple, Adam and Eve. We can only speculate what colour(s) they were. God had provided them with the genetic material to produce all the colours we see in people today.

Since we are all literally family (although separated by many generations) and created in the image of God for His glory, it is foolish to discriminate based on appearance. More than foolishness, it is a sin.

Now, let me be clear on something … discrimination is not the same as differentiation. If my three six-foot tall men, the Scandinavian, the Zulu and the East Asian, were standing side by side, dressed the same, and I said to you, “that man there.” You would likely ask, “Which man?”. Since they are the same height and dressed the same, I would probably say something like the blonde or the dark-haired man or the white man or the black man or the Asian man or some similar differentiation. If one had on blue jeans, one dress pants and the other shorts, I might say, “The one in the jeans or the dress pants or the one in the shorts.” Those are factors of differentiation, not discrimination. If I started to treat them differently based on their appearance, that would be a problem.

The Word tells us that such differences don’t matter,

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:25-29

The Word cautions us against preferential treatment based on appearance. It calls such behaviour sin; if we are honest, we all have been guilty of it at least on occasion and need to repent.

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. James 2:6-10

The sky may come in different colours, but it remains the sky. People come in different shapes, sizes and colours, but they are still our family and neighbours. Let’s treat them that way.

As the old children’s song says, “Red and yellow black and white they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

Let’s remember that and live that out.

Be blessed

Hallelu Yah

Praise God

Kevin

Gleanings From The Word

Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.

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