A World Divided

WHY DO WE LIKE TO FIGHT SO MUCH

Our world is divided more than ever. This race hates that race, political parties are at war, the genders rage against each other, vegetarians separate from the meat-eaters, and Coke-drinkers keep their distance from Pepsi-lovers. Everywhere you look disunity runs rampant, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. If you take a moment to collectively think about all the tension, it can make you start to wonder: What’s going on here? The human race is suspiciously segregated.

It’s not to say that having an opinion is a
bad thing. The world would be pretty
boring if everyone just liked and disliked
the same things. We’re all wired
differently and see things from unique
perspectives. We have different tastes
and styles. So, why can’t we all just be
different and learn to get along?

Imagine you have a friend who is an
adamant Coke-fanatic. All conversations
with them seem to end back at why
they think Coke is so great. Their social
media feed revolves around Coke. They
wear Coke t-shirts. They’re just all about
Coke. Good for them, right? Sure, but
let’s say their love for Coke doesn’t just
stop there. This friend is also constantly
trying to get you to love Coke as much
as they do. One day, they find out (much
to your horror) that you actually prefer
Pepsi, and it nearly starts a fist fight.
There’s no intelligent conversation, just
loud insults and mocking jeers before
your friend stomps away and starts
posting rude things about you on social
media. You’re nearly certain you’ve lost
the friendship for good. And at this
point, you’re pretty okay with that.

Now, no one’s probably getting this hot
and bothered over soda. However, this
scenario isn’t too far off when it comes
to gender issues, politics, or race. The
problem comes when an opinion,
preference, or belief takes on more
weight than it’s supposed to, and we
build our lives around that one thing.
When it gets threatened or isn’t
cherished by another person, we feel
personally insulted. Since our identity
has become embedded in it, we
demonize the people who think
differently than us. We post and like
propaganda online that supports our
views and tears down the opposition.
We lash out at anyone who goes against
us or doesn’t think the same way. We
will do anything to protect our identity.

The truth is, we’re all looking for
evidence that we’re okay, and
adamantly liking or disliking something
does the trick for awhile. Everybody
feels insecure whether they admit it or
not, and we’re constantly grasping for
something we can do to give us a bit of
stability.

The Bible can explain why we all feel so
wobbly. It frankly says that “No one is
righteous,” (Romans 3:11, ESV) and that
we “all have sinned and fall
short” (Romans 3:23). Basically, the
Bible is throwing all our little
segregations out the window. It’s
making us focus on the fact that there
are really only two groups: the righteous
and the unrighteous; the good and the
bad. Unfortunately for us, every single
human falls into the unrighteous
category.

To make things worse, our problem is
much bigger than our badness only
making us unacceptable to other people
or to ourselves. Our biggest issue is that
we’re unacceptable to God. Bad people
have no business being anywhere near
Him because He is good, righteous, and
perfect. We belong in Hell, far away
from Him, and we can never be good
enough to change that.

The great news is that Jesus can change
that. He “justifies the ungodly” (Romans
4:5, ESV). He offers the wobbly human
race a chance to finally be okay. He
takes hopelessly bad people and makes
them perfect in God’s eyes. He lived a
righteous life for us and then took the
penalty of our bad lives on Himself. Our
world may still be crazy and divided, but
the reality of Jesus simplifies things.

Because of Him, we now each have one
main choice that we have to make. Will
we accept what He’s done to make us
righteous, or will we continue trying to
prove ourselves? It’s up to you. Which
group will you belong to?