To Its Logical Conclusion (Ceteris paribus part 3)
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2:13-15, emphasis mine)
Once removed
I know God is all about unity. I know that He desires we come together and coalesce as the Body of Christ. This is good. This is essential. The entirety of John, chapter 17 details Jesus's desire, from His Father, to unite us as one family. "That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us..." (verse 21) I know this. But I also know there's a qualifier in here somewhere. The qualifier is this: Until you take on the fact that it's just you and God (as one) because of what Jesus did—a world unto yourself, as it were—one cannot be part of something greater. Because even though we inhabit a body of spatial dimensions more-or-less similar to everyone else, we are all over the map, spiritually. It can be gloriously, mind-bendingly difficult to unite with people in this world. This is my experience.
The Cross is the simplest logo I know. From a semiotic standpoint, it is the most powerful symbol ever devised. Something so brilliant and simple with as much ramification (the good ramification, you understand) had to have come from the mind of God, in my opinion. And even then, citing all the power and influence of two lines—one twice as long as the other, bisected two-thirds up by the shorter—it doesn't do one any good unless they actively press in to the living God by Jesus Christ and realize that They love them. This is what makes one, one. God is about equality (the lines in an equal sign never meet). But first He's about unity—with Him, through Jesus' sacrifice and Resurrection.
Carrying the one
"God setteth the solitary in families: He bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land." (Psalm 86:6)
Have you ever been in a dry land? Have you ever felt parched even as you mingle with those of your demographic? That's a broad and statistical sounding word. But that's what so much of society feels like at times. Like numbers. What happens when you find, both God and yourself, wandering through that desert? Well, firstly, God was carrying you all along. That's why you found Him. You were in His arms and you didn't know it. But then what about everyone else? What about them? This is where ceteris paribus plays in to what you're going through (and this is the last part of this series). Until you make that effort to both maintain the unity that God has given you through Jesus, and also treat every single person with whom you interact as God did you, all things won't be equal.
See your life as that statement, that experiment God started ceteris paribus. See it that way in spite of the hurdles and variables you're facing. It's then that you can continue to be what God wanted when He spoke you out.
"But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee Thou shalt speak." (Jeremiah 1:7)
