Only skin deep

Kenyan Bible studies require a few simple ingredients - the Word, some good chai, and a group of bundled-up Kenyans complaining about how cold the evening is (as I sit with them sweating). I just got home from our weekly Bible study a few minutes ago. It is such a remarkable time to experience the Church Universal with all of its colors and backgrounds and accents.

Some things are unmistakably unique to this group. One of the Kenyan residents hails from a village renown for its witchcraft, and his comments on the impact of spiritual warfare sound strange to my American ears. Another has such a familiarity of scripture that I feel ignorant as he rattles off reference after reference and one obscure Biblical character after another. The third speaks lazily with such a thick Kenyan accent that I never quite understand what he says.

Other things are strikingly the same. I am still amazed to find that the struggles that we encounter are only "what is common to man." Despite traveling thousands of miles to a people of different skin and language and temperature-preference, we engage the same battlefields. Much of our discussion tonight centered on pride and obedience and believing the Gospel fully. They struggle in the same ways that I struggle. We fight against wanting to make a name for ourselves instead of the Lord. We grapple with living in true repentance. We wrangle the same sins of unbelief. While our skin may look different, at heart we are all the same.

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When we begin a procedure in the OR, we start with a simple incision. The knife slices through a thin layer of pigmented epidermis. This shallow black layer is less than a millimeter thick. The tiny distance is actually quite baffling. Once we pass through this infinitesimal barrier, all of the rest of the tissues are absolutely identical to an American's or an Eskimo's or a politician's or an atheist's. We are made from the same "lump of clay" and face the common effects of a sinful flesh. Thanks be to God for the grace that makes all things new and unites worshipers from all tribes, tongues, and nations to sing His praise.