Crazy cultural moments give me hope. Making light of no one’s challenge, I’m hopeful because I feel like the great big God of the universe is attempting to get our attention. Will we listen? … or will we continue to find another way to rely on our own knowledge, our own wisdom, trying to shape our own solution? The beauty right now is that many crave crafting actual solution. Even some who sadly justify unjust destruction are crying out. It is no excuse; it is, though, evidence of wanting something better. What would be better?
A culture in which no one is judged by the color of their skin —nor their age, stage, or circumstance.
An awareness that morality isn’t relative.
A resistance of the binary choice.
My sense is save for the radical, left and right fringe (noting both exist), most agree with the first two ways in which our world would be better…
The content of our character will always mean most.
Universal moral norms exist, especially the value of every human and the unalienable rights that only the Creator is capable of bequeathing.
But the binary choice?
Perhaps because we crave solution and seek to cease the pain as soon as possible — as let’s face it, friends, we aren’t very good with pain — our own, much less anyone else’s — in our desire to stop the pain, we sometimes rush to the simplified, binary choice…
… black/white…
… left/right…
… good/bad…
… friend/foe…
… fund/defund…
The challenge is binary choices are almost always made from too far away. As Andy Stanley says, “The farther away you are from a problem, the simpler it seems. The closer you get, the more complex it becomes.”
And so I ask…
Who are you close to?
Proximity shapes perspective. From far away, the perspective pales. That’s evident in both those who encourage the violent and those who denigrate the nonviolent… that’s evident in those of us who have no friends, family, or significant influences who look/think/believe/behave/vote any different than ourselves…
We are too far away from one another. Those who are too far away tend to encourage the binary choice.
Hence, questions I’m asking myself at this time…
- Where have I looked down upon any other as lesser?
- Where have I allowed racism, implicit bias, or prejudice to affect my thinking or behavior?
- Where am I unwilling to listen to another?
- Where am I intentionally not choosing unity?
- And where is the great big God of the universe attempting to get my attention?
God is the only One who consistently encourages loving all well and looking down on no one. It is only He who speaks of a day when the lion/lamb/leopard/goat all lie down peacefully together.
It starts by moving closer.
Respectfully…
AR