There’s so much disunity right now that it’s alarming! But if you examine the science of unity, you see that all of human kind share a genome that is 99.5 percent identical. Here’s a question for you: if you discovered that a measurable portion of your genetic makeup was of a race different from the group you identify with, would that change how you view others? Group identity is not just racial. It can be socioeconomic, political, age related, etc. People are always trying to separate themselves from each other, and the group that pushed back the hardest on Jesus should have been His greatest ally—the religious community. They were constantly trying to trap Him! They weren’t demonstrating Matthew 22:36-39, which says you’re to love God with all your heard and to love your neighbor as yourself.
You have to decide what YOU are going to do amidst this crazy time. Let’s start with a heart alignment. This is exactly what it sounds like—aligning your heart with God’s instead of whatever comes down the pike. Jesus always searches the condition of your heart. This will help bring other things in your life into alignment (Matthew 19-16-22). Realigning your heart will allow you to see others the way Jesus does. In order to do that you have to…
Stop misalignment! Misalignment can happen in in many ways. With matters of the heart, you either have a major—perhaps even catastrophic—event that sends your views, values, and heart in another direction. You might have a series of minor bumps in the road—hurt feelings, rude people, or lonely times. Miles McPherson’s book The Third Option identifies nine blind spots in our divided world when it comes to racism (pages 69-78).
- “I claim that I don’t have a racist bone in my body, but resist letting certain people get too close to my family.
- I claim all people are equal, but in my heart I believe that my ethnicity is superior to others.
- I claim all people are equal, but I feel and act inferior to certain people because I have internalized view of my critics.
- I resent being the victim of discrimination and stereotyping, but have no problem doing it to others.
- I claim all people are God’s children, but treat some like they belong to another family.
- I claim to acknowledge many perspectives in life, but I’m not really willing to learn from any views that challenge mine.
- I’m an unintentional participant in a bigoted system, so I am insulated from the guilt of the bigotry.
- I claim that because racism doesn’t impact me, it doesn’t exist—or at least to the degree that people say it does.
- I don’t have any blind spots. I see things just fine.”
Group alignment above God alignment is misalignment! Stop team (virtue) signaling. What an unimaginable honor it must have been for Abraham to be chosen as the Father of many nations. But through the generations, millions of Jews made up the nation of Israel, and a religious and racial arrogance developed. Many people had nothing to do with God, even to the point of being anti-God. Rather than being on God’s team, they thought God should be on Israel’s team. Read Matthew 12:38-39 to see what the Bible says about that attitude! You can think of it this way—people were waving around DNA results like that would impress God! But it was by faith that Abraham pleased God, not by pedigree.
God made it clear that He doesn’t join our groups. It was Joshua who immediately stopped team virtue signaling. That was a marker moment for him. It was the day he realized that followers of God don’t get God to join their causes—they humble themselves and join His cause. A little later this week, I’m going to continue helping you align your heart with God’s!