In the current cultural and political climate, people point fingers at each other and label one another with various forms of prejudices. Unfortunately, what many don’t realize is that when they are pointing fingers at others, they also expose their own prejudices and faulty mindsets by jumping into conclusions.
According to Webster’s dictionary: Prejudice means: preconceived judgment or opinion, an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge
The Bible has many stories of people who had their own prejudices that could have hindered their walk, victory, and deliverance.
Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 2Kings 5:9-14
Naaman was the commander of the Syrian army who had the favor of the king. This man was a strong warrior, but he was a leper. When his wife’s Israeli servant girl suggested to go see Elisha, Naaman set out to see the prophet for healing.
Elisha told him to wash himself in the Jordan river seven times, but this made Naaman angry. He had prejudice in his heart and thought that Elisha’s recommendation was a bad one. He felt that the Syrian rivers were better and cleaner than Jordan. Why should he dip into a foreign river when he could easily do the same thing in his own rivers!? I wonder if he thought that the Jordan river was contaminated because the Jewish people used it and he was more comfortable with his own “clean” rivers!
We can also have our own prejudices based on what we are familiar with and what seems unknown to us. We draw conclusions on people’s intelligence, income, or even driving skills based on where they live, their nationality or ethnicity. We think that our town or our church is better than others when we know very little about other towns or other churches. Prejudice causes us to have preconceived notions about others. This could cause us not to associate with others. This can also impede us from helping or receiving help from others because we see them as “inferior” or “not good enough.”
The servant girl wisely told Naaman that if Elisha had suggested something grand to him, he would have done it. Naaman was looking for some big prayer or miraculous act. However, the simple dipping in the Jordan river healed him. Similarly, sometimes the transformation in our hearts comes from those small and insignificant steps that lead to a big change of mindset. It is in those moments that we also receive our healing and deliverance.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
God tells us that we can be deceived with the condition of our hearts and think that we are better and more pure than we really are. It is only through opening ourselves up to the Lord and allowing Him to show us the prejudices in our hearts that we realize our blind spots. Don’t fall into the trap of name-calling others or labeling them based on very little information. Ask the Lord to reveal your prejudices and take the steps He shows you to receive your healing and deliverance.
