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Humanity. Our world is a global family. We are more alike than we are different.
In the television travel series Departures, hosts Scott Wilson and Justin Lukach traveled the world by backpack, often staying with friends or with local people in far-flung and remote areas. They observed that even in cultures that seem bizarrely foreign to North Americans, the core of who we are is the same. We all eat, drink, love, and need reassurance from one another. We care for our children and find pleasure in the beauty of our surroundings.
1 Corinthians 10:1-5 reiterates this for the children of Israel:
“For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”
The children of the twelve tribes all ate, drank, loved, and found pleasure in their children. Yet, there were those that didn’t make it out of the wilderness. What made the difference? Choice. We can attend church, join prayer meetings, and study the Word. If we do all these things and still harbor sin in our hearts, we will be overthrown when we stand in front of God.
Our goal is to aim for a higher mark, to find the Way of Truth, and to follow our Lord’s plan. 1 Peter 2:9 pegs us for who we are:
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
We are more than ordinary. It’s time to live like it. Christ came to cleanse us from sin, and we can live a life of purity in him. We can toss out the dross and shine in the presence of the King.
Hosts Wilson and Lukach found that the best of the people they met in their travels chose to excel in their situations. As followers of Christ, we can excel in our circumstances, if only we choose to live like our Lord.
We stand out from the crowd when we truly live the teachings of Christ.
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