Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more