Like A Squirrel
Could we be so secure in God's love for us, so clear-eyed about how little we know for certain, and so committed to shalom, that fear and division would be overwhelmed by curiosity and the possibility of friendship?
Have you ever wondered why squirrels seem so indecisive when crossing the street? Is it the placement of their eyes? Is it the way their brains process visual information? Apparently not. The behavior of squirrels on the road is normal instinctual behavior for averting predators moving in by air or on land. For speed, hawks and foxes commit to a direction and a target. The squirrel's scrambling behavior makes the predator's success much more difficult. The squirrel's instinct might frustrate natural predators, but not four tires, spaced apart, and moving in fast. To a squirrel, a car must look like several attackers coming quickly from different directions.
Humans carry our own fears and have our own scramble. At both personal and societal levels, we are uncomfortable with difference. Sometimes, we are able to overcome that impulse. For a greater good, many of us have learned to move toward difference rather than away from it: to build a network and a following, to close a sale, to get elected, to win games. And sometimes, those transactional relationships actually do turn into real friendships. But mostly, when we see difference, we scramble to avoid it or push it away. Perhaps our identity feels threatened. Maybe we are uncertain about the 'rightness' of our beliefs. We worry about getting into a disagreement, or embarrassing ourselves. Or it could be, "What will my people think?"
Marketing sage Seth Godin writes often about 'people like us.' We seek affiliation with like-minded tribes. But there is an interesting dynamic at play here. When we remove ourselves from 'bigger difference,' we begin to see 'smaller difference' within our tribe. These can become new points of separation. A pastor once said to me, "People keep dividing and subdividing until all that's left is a smudge on the knife."
God's kingdom elevates a different way. The way of his kingdom is gathering. It's forming a new society that's not so much 'people like us,' but 'people like Him.' The book of Acts shows us how the early church was formed from numerous, very different people who together encountered Christ's majesty. The New Testament consistently calls for oneness and unity but also describes diversity, using the body as a metaphor with all of its different parts.
Is this new society the 'greater good' that moves us toward difference rather than away from it? Maybe. But to me, this would seem transactional and legalistic, a project. Not really God's fullest vision for us: fellowship together, and together with him. It feels more like tolerance than friendship.
Instead, we can ask the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts from fear to love. Perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18). Could we be so secure in God's love for us, so clear-eyed about how little we know for certain, and so committed to shalom, that fear and division would be overwhelmed by curiosity and the possibility of friendship?