What Color is God?

Bringing a spiritual perspective to world events and daily life.

One Sunday afternoon in the local mall, my youngest child asked me an innocent question: "Mommy, why are there black people?" She had noticed that not all people have the same skin color.

Normally this question would not have been a hard one for me. But just as she asked it, a young black woman was passing by. Because her pace slowed, I could tell that she had heard the question and was interested in my response. I knew that I was not just answering this question to a three-year-old; I was also, in a way, making a public statement of what I believed.

My first response to any situation is to turn to God. So instantly I prayed to Him for the right answer.

The thought came to me quickly that God's love for His children is infinite. He doesn't have a limited amount of love for only certain of His children. God's Love for His creation is abundant, unchanging, always at hand. His people are varied and unique in innumerable ways, but they all come from Him, the one God.

I told my daughter this, in a way she could understand. She was content, and I noticed also that as the observer went by us she had a smile on her face. I was grateful to God. His love and guidance reach every one of us, no matter what the need.

Later on, as I was thinking back to this incident, these two questions came to me: "What color is God?" and "As His children, how do we relate to each other?"

When I have a question and want a firmer understanding of God's answer, I turn to the teachings of the Bible and Christ Jesus. I knew that because God is incorporeal -- without body or physical form -- he doesn't have the identifying characteristics of a human being. I also knew that God is the creator of all. He can only create His likeness, which is always good in quality. He cannot create something that is unlike Himself or outside His intelligence. As God's children, we can show evidence of His likeness only in terms of perfection. Therefore we are, in essence, also incorporeal, or spiritual.

One day while I was studying the Bible, the idea came to me to look up the word light. I found that the Psalmist sings, "Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain" (Psalms 104:1, 2). As children of God we are also clothed with this light of "honour and majesty."

I began to see that because God is Spirit, there is no room for physical features, characteristics, or traits in His creating. He does not know us in terms of race, color, or creed.

Because God is All, He doesn't include any inequality for His creation. We as His children can never be categorized as superior or inferior to one another. Instead we each express individually God's majesty, honor, glory, and beauty. These are reflected in all of us. Good qualities, such as love, joy, satisfaction, and peace, come from His perfect being, and our identity as His children involves the expression of these qualities.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, explains, "God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence. Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light" (p. 516). Each one of us is beautiful in God's light, but not because of any physical characteristic. It is with the light of spiritual understanding that we see others as representatives of God's qualities. We can all care for each other in this way. This is everyone's true heritage and right.

So what is the color of God? His color is spiritual; it is the light of Love, in all its splendor. And that is what gives us color, too.

Have we not all one father?

hath not one God created us?

Malachi 2:10