How do you rank?

Black Lives Matter. This powerful movement protests against the devaluing and ill-treating of people just because of the colour of their skin. But once we’ve fixed our racism, is that enough? Maybe I’m no longer racist, but do I have a gender bias? Perhaps I’m not racist or sexist, but do I think those with higher academic qualifications are somehow better people? And on it goes. At the heart of all this, is what Robert W Fuller calls rankism. People are looking to find some way to value themselves, and if it’s not one set of criteria it will be another (eg money, accent, job title, school attended,…).

God says I, you, and they are extremely valuable. He intricately made each of us, knows us well, and loves us. The problem of rankism comes in when we take God out of the picture. If He isn’t the authority on a person’s value, then how do we know our importance compared to them? Typically, we’ll default to some criteria that God would not use.

A challenge for us is to keep God in the picture. In the world we live in, there are plenty of non-Godlike ways to rank people, and unless we work hard, our vision will blur to one of these. We need His help to see people the way He sees them: equally loved by the ultimate Judge of all. And for Him, there is no rank.

Yours,  
Glen Morris