An intriguing survey was conducted lately about secession.

The good news is that 87 percent of respondents want to remain in the USA. The bad news is that 13 percent don’t.

This reminded me of a bumper sticker I saw several years ago: “Don’t blame me. I voted for Jefferson Davis”

The survey then proceeded to ask respondents about excluding any state from the union that they wished. California won the dubious honor since 53 percent of respondents wanted to see the Golden State booted out. New York was second and Texas third. Fortunately Alabama and Georgia and five other states were near the bottom at two percent.

It’s good that we’re seen favorably by the majority.

Our world is full of exclusion. We see signs declaring “keep out” and “members only.” The good news of scripture is that everyone is valuable in the eyes of God and is invited to be part of his family.

An illustration of this is seen in Acts 8 in the New Testament. Philip, one of the seven table-servers selected in the Jerusalem church, was also an evangelist. He was the first to take the gospel to

Samaria in obedience to the command of Christ. One of their own, an immoral Samaritan woman, told Jesus, “The Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritans” (John 4: 9).  But Philip saw the blessings of God as scores of Samaritans became Christians.

However, in the midst of a great revival, God sent Philip to the desert to meet a single person.

The single person was a man who, like the Samaritans, knew exclusion.

He’d been surgically sterilized which meant he couldn’t be part of the Jewish assembly (Deuteronomy 23). He also was a dark-skinned man who may have known racial exclusion.

Scientists tell us that all the pigmentation of our skin is located in the epidermis, the outer layer of skin, which is about as thick as a single sheet of paper. Think of the judgments we make about one another based on such miniscule skin coloring!

Philip eschewed such exclusion. He sat with the man, explained scripture and baptized him into the church of Jesus Christ. Philip knew the truth of the song our children sing: “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.”

Often the ways of God seem strange to us, as in this case. Why take Philip away from a revival with many coming to Christ and send him to the desert to talk to one person? The principle is that every single person is valuable to God. This is good news, for this single person could be you or me, or my child or your grandchild.