Unity, Not Polarization

 
I, like many people, have been increasingly concerned by the polarization that has been occurring in our world. It has set friends against one another, family members against one another, and Christian brothers and sisters against one another. This is not God’s plan for us. It is actually the opposite. Jesus praying:

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” John 17:20-23

Of course the problem is that we desire for others to move over to our position, rather than us moving over to theirs. It isn’t going to happen. All the social media posting and arguing in the world isn’t going to change people’s positions. It is only going to inflame and further separate us. Look at the last sentence in the above passage. The words unity and love stick out to me. Is that what you are experiencing from others? Is that what you are communicating to others with your words?

Polarization gets us focused on right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, and all kinds of us/them dis-unifying thinking. Most often what we are not expressing is truth, but opinion. And those opinions are based on all kinds of emotions, usually fear or anger, not love.

Are you shaming people in the way you express your opinion?

Shaming is going deeper than saying “I don’t like what you did”. It is saying “I don’t like who you are. You are defective. If you hold that opinion there is something wrong with you.” But the Bible tells us something different:

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” Psalm 139:14

If we wish to influence people, we must do it with love and compassion, not anger and criticism.

“Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” Romans 2:4

Our kindness can be our best tool to help people to consider our opinions. We, as believers are called to build up, lift up, encourage, restore, and reconcile. We can not do it by tearing down and destroying people with our words. We must do it with love, seeking the truth, and not by repeating hearsay or gossip.

I try my best to obscure inflammatory posts on my social media feeds when I catch them. I see no purpose in letting them stand. It is not that I have no opinions or am cowardly. I simply do not wish to be part of a problem that seems to be increasing and is in opposition to Jesus’s call for us to be peacemakers.

Can you be steadfast in the things of God, but yielding in the things of this world? The Bible calls this the battle between the Spirit and the flesh. I know it is very hard when you feel deeply. But, as I regularly communicate in counseling, feelings do not determine reality.

I suppose it all comes down to what we value most.

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15