"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase"
1 Corinthians 3:6
A Message From the Horne of Africa
"THE ULTIMATE HUMAN RACE"
04/21/2009
Who or what is the ultimate human race? Is there such a thing? Is any race superior to another? Who says? Now there have always been people who believed that they were God's gift to humanity. They believe that if they had not been created the world would be asking why?
When we worked in Tanganyika as missionaries in the sixties, the local people were watu, "the people," and we foreigners were wazungu, "the non-people (?)." In the religion of Mohammed, their distinction between peoples is noted as Muslims, "submitters," and infidels, "unbelievers." During the dark days of apartheid in South Africa, much was superficially determined by skin color. Park benches displayed the strange anomaly. They were sign-posted either "For Europeans Only" or "For Non-Europeans." The twist was that there were few people here directly out of Europe--most were "South Africans." In Nazi Germany, Hitler tried to produce an ultimate race by genetic selection. Since God made all people of "one" or "one blood," Acts 17:26, all nations fulfill God's purpose and none can claim superiority. Each nation has a role to play in the overall scheme of things and our job is to bring them to Jesus, Matthew 28:19-20.
When Peter preached his memorable Pentecost sermon, he was still prejudiced against the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit put words into his mouth which he only came to grasp the meaning of much later. In Acts 2:39, he said "the promise is to you (the Jews) and to your children (future generations of Jews) and to them that are afar off " (Gentiles--Ephesians 2:11-13). God had to use three miracles to get Peter, the Jew, to preach to Cornelius, the Gentile, (see Acts 10 and 11). Peter had to face the wrath of his Jewish brethren when he returned to Judea, Acts 11:1-3. With God's help, he gave them a satisfactory explanation. But the old prejudices were hard to eradicate. Paul had to oppose Peter when he shunned Gentiles in Antioch because Peter's "reputation" might have been tainted if he mixed with the "wrong people"--the Gentiles, Galatians 2:11-14.
But according to a newspaper article I read some days ago, there is an "ultimate human race." Am I now going to contradict everything I have just written? Nope, this did not have to do with racial origins or ethnic status. It does have to do with a "foot-race" and athletic contest where runners pit their skills and stamina against each other. The journalist was referring to the internationally known "Comrades Marathon." On the date designated, 30,000 runners or more gather in the chilly twilight before dawn and move off as soon as the starting pistol is fired. The strains of "Chariots of Fire" float across the quadrangle as the mass of human bodies move slowly like a human train. The music seems to make them more fleet-footed. They have eleven hours to cover the murderous 58 miles over hill and dale between Durban city and the town of Pietermaritzburg or vice versa. People gather from many nations to participate. Men, women and youth jog along the highways as the serious runners propel themselves ahead like surging rockets. The prize for the first ten is a coveted gold medal; the next few get silver; the vast majority have to be satisfied with bronze medallions. It is a race of "blood, sweat and tears" for all the courageous participants. It is a thrilling event to watch. It inspires most of the nation's sedentary armchair athletes to start a training regime to partake in the world's "ultimate human race." Well, at least, to think about it!
Human endurance and determination is displayed in bold strokes. It is even inspirational for the Christian. The Bible says, "Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses (the crowd in the stands--the heroes of faith), let us lay aside every weight and sin which doth so easily beset us (don't allow the hindrances of life to blunt our determination or to thwart our effort) and let us run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus. . . " (who stands to welcome us at the finishing line), Hebrews 12:1-2. Let us run with the Spirit--we can all be winners, if we do. "Finishers" count in God's race for eternity, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. There is a crown for each
one who completes the race! Never be a drop-out--the prize is beyond human comprehension.
Love you all,
Al--"the Horne of Africa"