What's nail polish got to do with it?
With all the Thanksgiving kitchen festivities behind me and the Christmas decorations up, I decided to treat my hands to a manicure. Seeing a window of opportunity just after my morning online Bible study discussion, I jumped in my car and headed out. By the way, we’d just had our sixth and final discussion of the Bible study “Counter Culture” by David Platt. It’s been a wonderfully challenging study and so as I headed into the nail place, my heart was full.
There I was settled in my chair with my hands in plastic baggies tucked inside heated mitts when all of a sudden this wall of nail polish caught my eye. My mind went immediately to Week 5 of the study I’d just finished entitled “Race” and our memory verse for that week which was…
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!’” Revelation 7:9-10
Can you even imagine? I tried to visualize this great multitude that can’t even be numbered in my mind. A patchwork of people. That’s what I thought of when I saw this wall of nail polish. Each and every bottle up there is a bottle of nail polish but look at the variety! Can you see it? Don’t you think this kind of represents us, humans?
There is one race y’all and it’s called the human race. Acts 17:26 says “[God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”
For sure, we humans, come in all different varieties…nations, tribes, peoples, languages. I’ll add sizes, shapes, colors, personalities and so on but we each and every one of us can trace our roots all the way back to Adam and Eve. Each and every one of us created in the image of God. How in the world did we lose sight of this marvelous truth? I know what you are thinking…the same way we lose sight of all God’s marvelous truths. I love David Platt’s reminder from page 138. He says,
“Unfortunately, Christian history is filled with a lack of understanding of how the gospel affects the way we view and love people of different ethnicities. The hope and prayer for you in this study is that this wouldn’t be what the next generation will say about the church of our day. The body of Christ is a multicultural citizenry of an otherworldly kingdom, and this reality changes the way we live in this ever-evoking country. By the sheer grace of God in the gospel, we’re compelled to resist ethnic pride and prejudice and to reflect gospel truth and grace as we look forward to the day when ‘a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages’ (Rev. 7:9) will stand as one redeemed race to give glory to the all sovereign King who ransomed us by His blood.”
As I sat there looking at that wall of nail polish, all the wonderfully challenging truths fresh on my mind, I was reminded,
God is glorified when His people are unified.
This world isn’t our home.
The heavenly Father is preparing a place for children of every tribe, tongue, and nation.
And guess what? As adopted children, we have the privilege of assisting God in adopting others. It’s called sharing the gospel! Let me close by including “Five Gospel Truths” from pages 31-32 of the study book:
The character of God. God is the holy, just, and gracious Creator of all things. Read Acts 17:24-31.
The sinfulness of man. We’re each created by God, but we’re all corrupted by sin. Read Romans 1:18-25; 3:23.
The sufficiency of Christ. Jesus alone is able to remove our sin and reconcile us to God. Read Romans 3:24-25; 5:19-21; 6:23.
The necessity of faith. We’re reconciled to God only through faith in Jesus. Read Romans 5:1-2; Ephesians 2:1-10; and Hebrews. 11:6.
The urgency of eternity. Our eternal destiny depends on our response to Jesus. Read Matthew 7:21-23; 25:46; and John 3:16.
May we be zealous for God’s glory and passionate for people’s salvation.
