We're so glad you've joined us for today's encouragement from our daily bread.

I'm James Banks, and I titled our reading Prejudice and God's Love.

You're not what I expected.

I thought I'd hate you, but I don't.'

The young man's words seemed harsh, but they were actually an effort to be kind.

I was studying abroad in his country, a land that decades earlier had been at war with my own.

We were participating in a group discussion in class together,

and I noticed he seemed distant. When I asked if I defended him somehow, he responded,

not at all. And that's the thing. My grandfather was killed in that war, and I hated your people

and your country for it.

But now I see how much we have in common, and that surprises me.

I don't see why we can't be friends.

Prejudice is as old as the human race.

Two millennia ago, when Nathaniel first heard about Jesus

living in Nazareth, his bias was evident. Nazareth? Can anything good come from there? He asked

in John 1, 46. Nathaniel lived in the region of Galilee, like Jesus. He probably thought God's Messiah would come from another

place. Even other Galileans looked down on Nazareth because it seemed to be an unremarkable

little village. This much is clear. Nathaniel's response didn't stop Jesus from loving him, and he was transformed as he became Jesus' disciple.

You are the son of God, Nathaniel later declared.

There is no bias that can stand against God's transforming love.

Today's our daily-bred devotional scripture reading is from John chapter 1 verses 43 through 51.

An interesting passage.

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