Inclusion… March 27, 2013

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She has a heart for people. There is no doubt about it. She explained to me that she was concerned about bringing anything into her church that might disrupt the careful balance she had struck of love, acceptance and forgiveness–for her church was predominately staffed with people who found it difficult to be accepted in today’s society and she felt protective.

She selected the parts of spirituality which guaranteed encouragement and refrained from focusing on some of the more direct passages, which she felt might cause confusion or condemnation.

Undoubtedly, there is a time when people have been wounded and they need to recuperate from their injuries. But part of the wonder of the gospel of Jesus is that it offers gentle exhortation, but also has a second edge to it, which motivates the believer who has been set free to gain personal responsibility and thereby change the world.

To give people healing without restoring their confidence is to rob them of half their lives. So as important as inclusion is to the sharing of a human message of God’s love, we also need to realize that the same message asks each and every one of us to stop blaming the world around us for our situation, and to “take up our cross and follow.”

What does that mean? Something different to each person, which can only be revealed as the Spirit of God speaks to them–not as we decide the extent of their weakness.

If we are too careful in speaking the truth, we will leave people overly dependent on appreciation. Somewhere along the line, each and every one of us needs to find our satisfaction through accomplishment and not just through acceptance. It’s just the nature of things. So how do we make sure that we don’t accidentally slide into this false thinking of “I am special, I am unique and I need people to accept me,” draping it in the robes and philosophy of Jesus?

This is what I believe the true message of inclusion is:

1. Judge not. This is an emphatic commandment from the mouth of Jesus of Nazareth. That means that in the process of trying to gain your own sense of value, criticizing others is forbidden. So even though people are wounded, they are not permitted even a season of revenge. We don’t need to get specific; we don’t need commentary. Just let people know that judging is taboo.

2. Do as. It doesn’t matter if you are recuperating from some wrong or reeling from a betrayal. Your personal actions still need to be tempered by the realization that what you do unto other people is going to splash back on you. There is no gospel message if we’re allowing people time to be angry at their enemies. Just taking a moment to teach those who are torn that in the process of mending, their best way of achieving wholeness is to do unto others with an eye on their own desires.

3. And finally, the true message of inclusion must be one of “log in.” It’s fascinating to me that in the computer world we now have this phrase: log in. Jesus taught it years ago. He told us that we should deal with the log in our own eye instead of worrying about the speck in our brother’s. Any message that is inclusive and healing must focus on the importance of self-awareness and the avoidance of critiquing others. For after all, it is rather difficult to attack someone who is already addressing his or her own difficulties faithfully.

I can assure you of this:

• There will be practicing prostitutes who make it to heaven because God looks on the heart and not the outward appearance.
• There will be drug addicts entering the pearly gates because God looks on the heart, not the outward appearance.
• And there will be famous religious people who will be turned away at the gate because God looks on the heart and not the outward appearance.

So even though you may believe you are helping people by comforting them and agreeing with them that there are nasty folks in life who are judging harshly, until you teach people to evaluate themselves and not worry about others, you are cheating them of the true power of the message of the gospel.

Inclusion is not telling everyone they are “all right the way they are.” We don’t know that. Inclusion is faithfully teaching not to judge others, to love your neighbor as yourself and to take the log out of your own eye instead of worrying about the speck in your brother’s.

In the process of doing that, you not only bind up the wounds of those who’ve been attacked, but you empower them to establish their value through accomplishment instead of begging for acceptance.

Okay, we’ve gone this far together. We’ve seen the fallacy of “I am special; I am unique, and I need people to accept me.” We’ve shown that any message of inclusion needs to teach the gift of accomplishment instead of the demand for acceptance.

So what IS the real impacting mission statement for those who want to live abundant lives and help others?

See you tomorrow.

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