We live in a culture that allows you to have your own identity. In most cases this is a good thing because it allows people to be who they are without having to pretend or fake something they are not - it probably helps people with their mental and physical health too - I would go crazy if I had to hide something that was integral to who I am.
As a follower and practitioner of Jesus, my identity is in Him, I know that God sees me through the lens of Jesus and that my brokenness and the bits of me that just aren't quite what they could be, the little things that I struggle with that I really shouldn’t think or say or do, are all covered by his love for me and the sacrifice that he made for me so that I can feel this security.
But…
I want to talk about how identity can be damaging - even identity as a 'Christian'.
Because we all have different upbringing, environments, culture and experiences, we naturally identify in different ways and then naturally find affinity with others who have the same identity. At first this is fine, we all know this reality and the fact that we spend our time with people of the same identity is just so that we can share these experiences with likeminded people.
However, those identities can become entrenched, suddenly, my identity is right and yours is wrong, my identity is superior to yours and that means I am entitled. Suddenly we have forgotten that we all came from the same place, and at heart we are all the same.
There are examples of this throughout history, and even today:
Right wing and Left wing
Black and white
Gay and straight
East and West
Jew and Muslim
Christian and non-Christian.
These identities now give us something to fight over, justification for violence, advocation for conflict, grounds for war. These differences in opinion are now the reason for killing.
Where did it go wrong?
I'm not excusing Christians from this argument either - some of the worst atrocities in history have been carried out under a (false) banner of Christianity.
Most Christians are no way near as extreme as wanting to crusade and kill every Muslim in sight, but we are perhaps guilty of a far more subtle and potentially even more dangerous problem - exclusivism.
The -
"We're Christians and we're all going to heaven - you're not and therefore see ya suckers."
- kind of exclusivism.
We can act as though we have all the answers, only we know the 'truth' of the world and all others are flailing around blindly in darkness and pity on them; let's all stay together and sing about it in big groups. But we are not a 'Christian club' - we are not special - we don't have any more special understanding of the world and the way of it than any other. The book of 1 John in the new testament (Second half of the bible) is writing to second and third generation Christians who have been inflicted by these so-called Christians who have a 'special' understanding, or a 'higher knowledge' that the rest of us mere mortals cannot hope to understand. To paraphrase his books, John says to these afflicted people: That's a load of rubbish.
Yes we have a Truth - Jesus - and knowing that truth changes us from the inside out, but that truth is readily available to all, it's pure and unadulterated for anyone who wishes to seek and understand it and experience its freedom and peace.
If you're reading this and you've ever been skiing or snowboarding, you'll know how flippin awesome the virgin powder is. Ah that feeling of floating on the fresh stuff, it feels as though you're sailing on air. Well imagine you've been up to the top of the mountain and sailed down on the fresh pow, you get to the bottom and you see a friend, and you tell them, "OMG I just had the most incredible experience floating on the fresh snow, but it's a real shame, now I've been up and come down, you won't be able to have that feeling because I did it first, you won't be able to, it won't be the same."
It's nonsense. The truth is that the friend can go up the mountain and they too can plough the pow and have an awesome time and know that feeling of floating. The first skiier in this analogy has lost sight of the fact that the promise of life and life at its utmost best is there for all people, not just those who got there first.
Rather than finding things that divide us, we need to find things that unite us.
+ Peace
+ The environment
+ Climate Change
+ Globo-politics
+ Music
+ Art
+ Nature
Truly, these things when we are brought together by them and we have a deep feeling about it - we are acting as Jesus would. Caring for what God gave us, developing our emotional and spiritual relationships with each other, striving for 'better-ness' and more goodness, is TRULY what God showed us through Jesus.
These issues are ours, now.
We cannot lay back and think 'ahh it's fine right now, I'll probably be dead before it's really bad', - think of our children.
Let's put a Christian spin on it - "It's all good, we'll be okay because we have salvation; death and destruction of this world will be solved by the second coming so we don't have to worry about that.
WRONG
The world we live in, The Kingdom of God is here, RIGHT NOW - and we are its carers, we are called to maintain it and make it better for everyone else.
This is what Jesus' mission was, and what he asked us to do when he went out of the world.
Jesus and his example is what unites us.
Whatever your opinion on Christianity is, I sincerely challenge you to read the book of Luke (Link below), which is a commentary of parts of Jesus' life. I would wager that there is simply no chance that after reading you will think, "nah I don't agree with this, this is a load of crap."
Have a read, what's the worst that will happen? I genuinely believe if you care about this world, and more importantly the people who live in it, our family, friends and loved ones - there is no better example of how to live than the example of Jesus.
As ever, any questions or if you want to discuss anything about this, hopefully you know where I am, if not, leave a comment or send me a message, I would be really pleased to talk to you.
P.s.
Try Luke, but there is also Matthew, Mark and John, that are equally as good, written to different cultures of the day.
Also it's not a 5 minute read, it is a book after all, but I promise you it's worth it :)
