Words like “us” and “them” and “those people” can roll easily off the tongue.
Those words tell who we are by telling who we are not. We are not “them.”
Those words tell where we belong. We are “us.” We are not “them.”
Those words tell what makes us unique. We are like “us.” We are not like “them.”
Those words are important. We need a sense of identity, autonomy and affinity. We need to know who we are, why we uniquely matter and where we belong.
But those words are also dangerous. They draw lines in the sand. They can create sides and force people to choose. At best they create distance between people. At worst they make enemies.
Whose side are you on?
Joshua asked the question to an angel that he mistook for a human soldier. “Are you for us or for our foes?”
The angel’s answer? Neither.
NEITHER?
Camped just inside the Jordan river in the land that had been promised for generations.
NEITHER?
Just at the edge of taking hold of the dream God inspired after having wandered in the wilderness for forty years.
NEITHER?
How could God (and his army) not be for “us?” We are the people of God! He just led us through the waters of Jordan. He has promised this land to us. We just renewed our covenant with him…in fact, painfully (see Joshua 5:8 if you dare).
Surely God is for “us!”
But…that would mean He is against “them.” And in an “us” and “them” world it is easy to forget that He made them just like He made us, that He loves them just like He loves us.
He loves “us” all. Even “them.” For God so loved…the world…
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