Use All the Crayons!

There is a wave in our culture that is capable of doing great damage. It seems to be more prevalent during the political seasons. But it rears it ugly head more often than we think. The wave seeks to destroy at any cost that which is different. Those with different opinions or thoughts are demonized.

At the heart of this disease is the arrogance of being right.

Now before we all start pointing fingers let us confess that there is a time when we all find ourselves wanting to prove we are right. There is something in our human ego that feeds off of this. But being right is not all it is cracked up to be. And if there is a choice between being right and mercy in relationships, Jesus of Nazareth would choose mercy.

Demonizing those who are different from us empowers us to think we can do anything necessary. After all it would be faithful to dispose the world of these demons. But even more dangerous in this process of thought is that demonizing people means that I no longer have to treat them as a real human being. Their humanness is of no consequence to my actions or thoughts. Their feelings or ideas become irrelevant.

This is a great loss to us whether we realize it or not. It would be like trying to color a beautiful picture using only one color. The diversity of thought and ideas offers us the ability to be more creative and more understanding. The ability to listen and appreciate one another in our differences is the key to making our world a better place. It opens the world to the power of God to unite us in our uniqueness.

So what is the next step that God would have us do?

O Dean Martin was a preacher that changed my life when I was young. His preaching is still a part of my life because he made great sense. In one of his sermons, he said we do not need a revival. What we need is a new understanding of what revival is. And he offered this definition of revival.

Go into a room. Make sure no one else is in the room. Draw a circle. Get in the circle. Kneel before God and ask God to change everyone is that circle. That would be a living revival of the faith.

Jesus invites us to live in contrast to the culture--to be different. Resist the world's insistence to make demons of those who hold different ideas or opinions. There are enough demons in this world. We do not need to create more.

Learn to color with all the colors in the crayon box God has given us!