Monday, October 26, 2015

Are You Hyphenated?

In our politically correct age, the old designations we have for each other with regard to who we are just does not work. No one wants to be just an American. We are Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Native-Americans, African-Americans. Hispanic-Americans and the list goes on and on. The whole process can be kind of divisive, but past discrimination and mistreatments based on race and national origin have have yielded this crop of prideful hyphenations. We also now have gay-Americans, lesbian-Americans, differently enabled-Americans and what ever other denominator that you would like to apply. It would be nice if we could all just be Americans would it not....said the white boy from Iowa who is an Irish-American among other things!

Whatever happens in the country that we live, we do not want this sort of hyphenation to take place in the Church. And yet it does. It was a problem in Corinth in Paul's day and it is a problem in some precincts today within our churches. We have liberal Christians, conservative Christians, born again Christians, traditional Christians, gay Christians, recovering Christians and so on. And to add to the trouble we have Calvinists, Armineans, Catholics and Baptists, and something called Unitarians for which there is no absolute definition.

It is mass confusion. Our identity in Christ should be just that. We are to be Christians. We are to be disciples (small d). We are to be followers of Christ or even Christ seekers. Let us not denominate ourselves any further than that.

Do you love Jesus? Then die to all the labels and live for Him! Let Him be your label. Put on Christ and leave it at that. Do not pigeon hole yourself OK?

I love you. Go out there and love someone else today. Remember...grace and truth people. Live in the tension between the two. And no labels. Just stop it.

1 John 3:2
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is