Wholeness: Inclusion?

According to sociologists, the primary cause of suicide, especially among young people, is the lack of social integration. However, there is another disturbing phenomenon among the excluded who manages to find inclusion; they often commit suicide anyway. Apparently, the price of acceptance is just too high, so they refuse to compromise themselves that much for the sake of approval. In the end, the value of validation through social integration just doesn't equal what the world promises. My point being, overcoming the perceived cause of suicide was not actually the answer for them.

I bring this up because this idea of looking to approval and relationships for wholeness is a very common perception. Hollywood perpetuates it in almost every show they produce. Even when it's irrelevant to the story, they shoehorn in a romance somehow. The worst part is, manipulative people know just how high a pedestal we put inclusion on, so everyone from politicians, advertisers, to cult leaders uses this to exploit us. Again, all their promises of wholeness never match reality. So we need to learn to put all this in perspective, and three-dimensional holiness actually does this.

Granted, God created relationships, and they hold a special place within the church. However, whenever we exalt the created above the creator, things inevitably go askew. Even getting one degree off course can lead us miles away from where we are supposed to be if we continue at it long enough. This fear of exclusion has definitely gotten us off track with our holiness. Remember, one of the other meanings of holiness is, set apart. So by definition wholeness, and the desire for inclusion is at odds with one another where holiness is concerned. This desire only makes us part of the world, not set apart from it. It has caused us to compromise ourselves in service of our feelings, not a distinct mission to serve each other. This has led to a vast crisis of identity since we look for wholeness by conforming to imperfect people, not God's perfect will. The church shouldn't be just another faction catering to our childish desire for inclusion, yet sometimes it becomes just that. In reality, we need to offer something more mature than that. Something that includes us into something far greater than this fallen world, the kingdom of God.

The holy should emulate the image of God, with the understanding that we cannot ever replace God. Trying to do so only causes us to taint our love with unrighteous parasitic behaviors. God does not want you to compromise yourself either. However, he doesn't want you limiting yourself to the shallow, superficial, and cosmetic definitions that your peers and counter cultures prefer. Nor, does he want you revolving your life around your broken state. God values you even when the world does not. God values your gifts and talents, even when the church does not. If we truly valued God we would set aside the ambiguous tradition, blind convention, sociological norms, empty culture, human validation, and everything else that breaks us. Then seek the creator who made us and the re-creator who can heal us. Only then, will we be whole enough to retain true fulfillment. A peace that naturally perpetrates more wholeness, not more brokenness.

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. -Jeremiah 2:13

Fear not exclusion from this broken world, fear being excluded from the book of life.

The Visual PARABLEist