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Identity II

             Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, (Ephesians 2:19)

 

          Again, Biblegateway.com has provided a passage that at least hints about identity. That means I get to try to say what I was trying to say yesterday, and didn’t, or perhaps to say it better. When someone becomes a Christian, they become a citizen of Heaven. As such, their membership in any other group must – at best – take second place. Or third. Or tenth. Or have no place at all.

          Are you a ______? That’s nice. It doesn’t really matter anymore, but that’s nice. And if you hold on to that identity, you’re dividing yourself away from whatever “them” is involved in the equation – and you shouldn’t expect them to treat you as one of their own when you’ve established your preference of beng a _______ over being a Christian.

          And it’s true that some people elevate one group over another – even using Scripture to justify it. I don’t understand this. Well, I do understand it,  it’s human nature. But you didn’t make yourself ________, so patting yourself on the back for being one makes no sense. Showing pride in an identity makes about as much sense as being proud that you “raised” a 10 lb. chunk of concrete well, feeding it, watering it, taking it for walks, teaching it to speak and do math…

          I’m sure I’m too proud of being a few things, but I also suspect that my pride has to do with negative things. I’m probably more proud of my identity as a loser than I am of being a winner of some sort. But even that is dangerous because we tend to put ourselves in mental ruts when we pick identities. It destroys our freedom. If we are this, we can’t also be that.

          Yesterday, the John Ortberg vlog I listened to was a discussion of identity, in a way. With many identities, the focus is on what those identifying as something are to do. Before he was elected president, Joe Biden told a Black radio talk show host that if the host was having any difficulty deciding whether to vote for Mr. Trump or Mr. Biden, the host “ain’t Black” because all Black people vote Democrat, apparently. Robin Deangelo, author of White Fragility, is among many people who maintain that if you are White, you are a racist. There is no other option because you see the world through your experience as a White person. On the other hand, people of color are forced (due to the sheer number of White people) to experience the world partly from a White perspective.

          All of this involves what we do. What the Bible teaches is not about doing, according to Mr. Ortberg and his guest, it’s about being. It isn’t about our loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, or self-controlled. It is about being the kind of person who is (consistently) loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.

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