A song in the Broadway musical Avenue Q kind of shocked me when I first heard its refrain. The lyrics say that everyone is a little racist sometimes and that we’ve all made judgments based on race.

Racist? Me? Impossible. Or is it? 

If we’re honest, we are all a little bit racist. And even the things we think “don’t count,” like a little racial joke or a stereotypical comment about a particular race, have helped fuel the division and hurt we see across the country. 

Of course, we don’t want to be prejudicial, but we are because of sin. That’s not an excuse; it’s a fact. And the sad truth is that we will never live in a world free of racism and prejudice this side of heaven. Owning up to our sin of racism, however, is one step toward breaching the divide.

Until heaven is our home, we must never stop chanting our country’s mantra of “liberty and justice for all.” It’s a mantra our heavenly Father penned long before our constitutional forefathers did: “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28 NLT).

I long for when I will finally be able to experience what the apostle John envisioned in Revelation: “After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb” (7:9 NLT).

One thing is certain—God is not racist—not even a little bit.