I read the other day somewhere where it said that there is no room in Dad’s kingdom for independent individuals as we are all a family. On face value I understand what this statement was attempting to communicate to us however without another truth being understood this statement has the potential, and often does, to separate people instead of uniting them into the reality of Gods oneness.
Please allow me to explain.
For many years I subscribed to the popular approach used by so many of us when it comes to determining who is part of our family and who is not. I looked at their labels. This gave me a simple way to determine in my mind whether people were in or out. As I look back I see how the way I treated people was also clouded by this erroneous processing system. My opinion of others gravitated on whether I saw them on Sunday or not and whether they did certain things during the week or not. Failure to do so meant that they were probably loosing it and on their way out of the family. I wonder how this measures up with the prodigal son where we are clearly shown that belonging has much more to do with where and in whom we originate from and not what we manage or choose to become a part of along the way.
Today my understanding is that we are indeed a family however this family is not just made up of those that wear the right labels or are members of certain communities but by every single human being that Dad has ever created. When we begin to see things from this perspective the love, respect, and attention we pay everyone suddenly becomes equal and without measure. From here we see that each person is special in their own right and don’t become special only when they have joined the “family”.
When we attempt to clone everyone into a code of behavior and an institutional identity we are only revealing our subscription to corporate narcissism and insulation which makes it almost impossible for people to be free to be themselves and the people God created them to be – Fully Alive.
If we are going to have a healthy “family” then it is going to have to be all inclusive and not just elitist and selective. We are going to have to lose our fear of freedom and being out of control so we can encourage everyone, starting with ourselves, to be healthy individuals that are free enough to enter into interdependent relationships where each party though they are a part of the same family they are not taken over by the identity of it.
Yes Paul did say that we are one body but let us not forget that he also said made up of many parts…make sure you don’t confuse or loose sight of the part (identity) you have been given as doing so will only mean disfiguring the whole body further. We need to wake up and realize that this inward way of seeing things is not leading us anywhere healthy. If it was then there would not be so many that are supposedly out of the “body” which are actually on a daily basis fulfilling the role the body was meant to.
Remember – a rainbow is made up of several different and individual colors which together make up the rainbow and not the other way around.
Have a great weekend!
-pablo-
Photo by Unknown
