“Dad, you’re my father. I’m your son. I love you. I always have and I always will. But you think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man.” Sidney Poitier, from “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”

My daughter goes to a small church in Oklahoma that has some of the most loving Christians you could ever find yourself privileged to meet. They reflect Jesus very well in their lives, and she is fortunate indeed to have found them. They are her family. Nearly all of them are black.

I preach at a small church in Texas that also has some of the most loving Christians you will ever meet. They, too, reflect Jesus very well in their lives and my family is fortunate indeed to have found them. They are our family. Nearly all of them have white skin.

Skin color really doesn’t come up much at either of our worship services. We are pretty much like all of you: Skin color just doesn’t matter, when you are a Christian.

Not so, in Washington D.C. Yesterday, at a hearing designed to investigate a government cover-up involving the use of the IRS as a punitive tool against political enemies, a congressman’s microphone was cut off after the hearing was over. No big deal, right? Normally, it would not have been, but you see, this congressman apparently viewed himself as a black man.

Another man, who appears to define everything in life from the lens of color – Jesse Jackson - took offense. Jesse is a black man before he is any other kind of man and no man, regardless of color, better forget it. Now he is issuing the charge of racism towards the chairman of the congressional committee who ended the hearing after the IRS witness refused to testify.

So, today, there is little talk about an IRS/Government scandal – which it is – and oodles of talk about the color of people’s skin. How far we have descended… as a once great nation!

I like Bill Cosby – I have his old shows on DVD. I like Alan Keyes – I voted for him for President. I like Dr. Thomas Sowell – I can’t get enough of this Stanford Professor’s views on economics. All three men are brilliant in their respective walks of life. They view themselves as men.They were determined to be men, so they became men worthy of the notoriety they have achieved.

I, on the other hand, do not like President Obama (Don’t misunderstand – I love him and pray for his repentance so that he can be saved – but I do not like his actions). I do not like Eric Holder or Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. They all, (at least from what I have observed of their actions and comments), appear to view themselves as black men. So they have, in my opinion, vastly underachieved in the walks of life that they have chosen.

Do you view yourself as a man or a woman… or do you view yourself from the hyphenated lens of color? Now, it’s true that we all have to live the best life before God from the position that we start with, and we all have a color on our skin that is a part of us that cannot be ignored. But, if we do not stop viewing everybody from the first thing we see – the color of their skin – we will never become the type of men and women that befit a noble nation, or a church that is worthy of the name of Jesus.

“Then His disciples came and said to Him, ‘Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?’ But He answered and said,‘Every plant which my Heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind.’”Matthew 15:12-14, NKJV