The Holy Ground of Difference (November 2012)

Do you remember not being invited to someone's party, or dinner at someone's place, or to some fun event that you found out about later? Do you remember what it felt like to know others were a part of something that you missed? You might wonder if you were purposefully excluded or just escaped notice somehow, but both of those can be hurtful, can't they? Even if you were invited and chose not to participate, another's enjoyment of what you skipped out on is enough to cue the irrational upset feelings that someone else has to be responsible for your exclusion. And yeah, I'm a youth minister. I see this happen all the time!

Have you ever wondered whether or not God will agree with you on a certain topic when you get to heaven? I mean, when you actually get to talk with God in a way that's beyond our current understanding, will you find yourself (as you see it in your mind) saying what you believe and hearing God say, "Yup, that's what I was getting at?" I ask because we Christians can sometimes come across to others with that attitude, an "I'm right, you're wrong," "Us vs. Them" mentality. When it comes right down to it, it's actually a form of manipulation that we're using. It works on people who are not prepared to question the validity of our argument, but those who are strong enough are not only keen to what's going on, they're also decidedly upset that you would set them up with a childishly controlling "lose-lose" situation (this is similar to the "Can God make a rock too big for Him to lift?" conundrum, where either way, God ceases to be some aspect of who He is, either all knowing or all-powerful in this case). As justified as we feel, and loaded with passages that support our viewpoint as we can be, I think we sometimes stink at acting like human beings in this regard. Somehow we forget what it feels like to not only be on the outside, but feel like we're outsiders, like we've been excluded.

Take a moment to read Joshua 5:13-15. Who are the people involved in the passage? What happens?

Jesus wasn't a fan of the Pharisees, and He said they would block those trying to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus reminds us that humility goes a long way with God, but the pride of self-righteousness is destructive.

"Yeah, but..." we like to say before we dive into the reserve of scriptural knowledge that restores our justification.

"Jesus wasn't..." we begin, as if to remove ourselves from the pool of condemned grubs.

Sometimes I think it's good for us to remind ourselves of our similarity to Joshua. We often come upon people who are a threat to us: to our image, our importance, our self-worth, you name it. We want to know what our response to them should be. Can we count this person as a friend, or are they the enemy? Are we up for a tussle or a self-congratulatory conversation?

It's a good thing Jesus told us how to treat our enemies, because otherwise--left to our own devices--we would revert to displays of showmanship and vying for dominance. Unfortunately we still do. And it affects the way others see God. We learn how to subtly manipulate others, cajole them into a "lose-lose" situation while we stand on the (*supposed) "win-win" ground above them. Even social media allows us a platform to do this, as the picture below would indicate.

There is holy ground here, between God and us, between our being more right than someone else and God being absolutely holy. Sometimes taking off our argumentative shoes in recognition of that is better than drawing our sword in our own defense, only to find that we've squared up against God.

This month, remind yourself daily that God is on God's side, and only when we choose to be on God's side is God on our side. Because God is always on God's side.

Always.

By the way, you need to forward this article on if you love God. If you don't, I'll know that you don't really love God and, more importantly, so will God...

... Sinner.

[I hope the context makes it clear, I'm joking] :)