Our Identity in a Polarized World

We live in a crazy, polarized world. Politics, socioeconomics, and culture pull us apart. Even in Christian circles, with thousands of sects and denominations, we sometimes live as if it’s us versus them. Why is this?

We all want to belong, to be accepted by a group or movement larger than ourselves. To achieve this, we define our identity with the groups we associate with. In this, two forms of idolatry emerge: pride and envy. But God has a better way.

Pride: you must become like me

If we naturally gravitate towards like-minded people, how do we handle those different than us? The greatest command besides loving God is loving one’s neighbor (Mark 12:28-31), but who is this “neighbor”? Leviticus 19:18 specifically commands Israel to love the neighbor who is “like yourself.” Jews only needed to love fellow Jews – case closed, right? I’m right; you’re wrong. If you want to be in fellowship with my tribe, you need to come to my side.

The Jews of Jesus’ time despised “half-breed” Samaritans. This group emerged from Israelites who assimilated with the pagan culture that took over during the exile. The Samaritans believed they were the faithful ones who were not exiled. Imagine the shock of Jesus’ parable of the “good Samaritan” in Luke 10, reminding Jews of the Samaritan kindness shown to them near Jericho centuries ago (2 Chronicles 28).

Wait, you’re telling me that I need to love them!? Yes, Leviticus 19 goes on to state, “The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:34). We are not to love only those who are like us but even our enemies (Matthew 5:43-47).

When our core identity is the idol of self, it fuels pride that proclaims, “I will only love those like me.” However, loving those “like us” isn’t a filter of who to love. Instead, it is the reason we love: God made everyone in his image.

Envy: I must become like you

When we encounter people different than us, another approach is to become people-pleasers, compromising our values to fit in. Even if we don’t compromise, we can still believe “I’m loved only because I belong to this group.”

When I lost my job over a decade ago, I came upon a saying that hit me hard, “If you are what you do, and you don’t, are you?” If my identity is in other people or things, it is devastating to lose them. When that job or friend vanishes or someone mocks your tribe, it feels like an attack on who you are. In response, we strive to fit in and cling to the people and things that make us feel loved and accepted.

The early Gentile Christians were eager for God to accept them. As part of the Mosaic covenant, God commanded Jews to have certain identity markers like circumcision. Wanting to fit in, some Gentiles adopted this practice. Likewise, when persecution ramped up, some Jewish believers left their Judaism to become like Gentiles.

Paul found a major issue with this: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). To belong in God’s family, Gentiles do not need to convert to Judaism nor do Jews need to abandon their traditions. Likewise, women should not strive to become men or vice versa. Even marital status or lack thereof is not core to who you are (1 Corinthians 7:26-27).

When our core identity is the idol of others, it fuels envy that exclaims, “I am only loved if I attain that status or remain part of that group.” By contrast, God accepts us just as we are (Romans 5:8). Nothing can separate us from his unconditional love (Romans 8:38-39).

The Gospel: we must become like Christ

So if our core identity is not in self or others, then who are we? Our single most defining characteristic should be our relationship with Christ. Though this world may hate or abandon us, God is faithful and will always love us.

Instead of pridefully demanding others to join our tribe, or enviously adapting our lives for the approval of others, we need to all unite in becoming more like Christ. After all, Jesus’ final prayer before his arrest was for his church to “be one” (John 17:20-23). This unity of love is how we demonstrate God’s love for the world (John 13:34-35).

This unity, however, does not mean uniformity. Consider Jesus’ first followers. There’s the sellout tax collector for the Romans and a terrorist freedom fighter against the Romans. You have a wealthy woman from Herod’s estate and simple fishermen barely making ends meet. By the cultural standards of the day, this diverse set of people (slaves and masters, rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles) would never have had table fellowship together.

Think of the powerful witness we could make to the world if we put our differences aside and became the diverse but united body of Christ to a broken world. You don’t need to demand everyone become an “eye” like you or strive to be a “hand” when God has called you to be a “foot” (1 Corinthians 12:12-26). God’s kingdom is full of diversely gifted people from all tribes (Revelation 5:9). Now let’s take Christ’s message of unifying love to a world in need!