Identity

             For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Romans 12:4-5) 

There is a type of faulty thinking known as “all or nothing.” Either one is completely A or one is completely B. Those who reject both of those are completely C. If you aren’t A, then you’re A-phobic. Undoubtedly, you can provide some examples in which this faulty thinking is true. You can’t be tall and short, or human and Mastiff, or on Earth and on Pluto. But in matters of thought and relationships, all-or-nothing can cause a great deal of harm.

Paul addresses this in today’s passage. We are members of the body of Christ, but the members of a body aren’t all the same. They have their own functions. So we are members of the body of Christ, but we are also individuals. We tend to wander back and forth about this, Some go so far as to say there should be no denominations at all, but that we should all believe the same, do the same, be the same, down to the smallest details.

Others hate the idea of holding hands and skipping along like good little kindergarteners. They may even go so far as to say, “I don’t need the church.” But they’re wrong, but the reality is that it isn’t all-or-nothing. It’s not either/or. It’s both/and.

I tend to be on the individual end of the spectrum. It’s vital that we work together as one body, with one vision, one goal – the glory of God, and we are to love one another, but not to toss our brains, our hearts, or our souls in the garbage on the way through the door.

This has been a “hot button” topic for me. It’s also a hot button topic in society right now. This is the issue at the core of political correctness, the cancel-culture, and identity politics. There are a lot of people out there who want to both be free to be who they are and to belong. They are desperate for an identity.

Dallas Willard describes the way the Church should be as “a hospital.” This is one of the ailments that should be treated. Too often, we’re given trite answers or commands to “die to self,” but not so much help in figuring out how to be alive to Christ. We know that there’s a problem when people identify themselves as _______ people, but do we have a plan about how to help them find freedom from the lies and freedom in the truth? Do we have any idea of what we’re saying when we tell them they’re wrong (because they are) but we have nothing to give them in terms of discovering what’s right?