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Identity

              There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

 

            There is lots of talk about identity. What do you identify as? According to today’s verse, for a Christian to identify as other than a Christian is wrong. I suspect this idea is where Martin Luther King, Jr. got the idea of being judged by the content of our characters rather than the color of our skin. This passage makes it clear that Christian is the identity we are to maintain when we become Christians. We may be Black, White, Native, male, female, American, Kenyan, Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic, rich, poor, or whatever, but those things are – at most – the equivalent of the style and color of the T-shirt we choose to wear.

            This is not to say that we don’t need to work on our proficiency in loving others. No one is pretending that our history may make loving might present come difficulties for many of us. There are times when I think half the reason I’m friends with some people is because my dog, Grace, LOVES people. And in my failure to love others as I should I must include that I make it difficult for others to love me.

            As I have been meditating on this, an idea comes to mind. When I get overwhelmed, I’ve often half-kidded that I wished a “knight in shining armor” would show up, do whatever needs to be done, and ride into the sunset. Of course, this goes back to love languages. The point is that doing what you would like someone to do for you is loving.

            The knight in shining armor idea wanders in and out of my imagination when it comes to helping (loving) others. I want to be a stealth lover, the masked superhero lover, the shadow lover, who may well do the loving thing without anyone knowing I did it. That’s not always healthy or possible, but it’s not as strange as it sounds, considering the notion of “Secret Santas.”

            The key to all of this is that our love for someone isn't based on who they are. It's based on who we are. 

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