Unity Out of the Box

Do you feel like you’re “part of the system”? Or is “the system” getting you down? Have you ever felt like you’ve taken the red pill in The Matrix and now you’re falling down the rabbit hole toward a place constructed to typecast you into a prebuilt dystopia?

Okay, that sounded a little intense. But there’s some preprogramming built into the systems of this world, implemented way before we got here, that, if we’re not careful, may lull us to sleep in its rhythmic tick of trends and tragedies.

This is the danger of our systems, or “boxes,” when we identify with them. Sometimes way too much. In social systems within the US, we identify with groups according to race and ethnicity. In our economic systems, we identify with a certain “class” or income level. In our religious systems, we identify with our flavor of faith. In our political systems, we identify with a political party or a certain set of ideals. And sure, these systems inform how we see ourselves and other people—that’s natural. But when we overidentify with groups constructed by humans, they begin to fail us and keep us apart.

Jesus showed in His “high priestly prayer” (John 17) that His heart for His people is restoration and unity: “[I pray] that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (v. 21). That tells us it’s possible, and it’s Jesus’ goal for us.

But this biblical unity is an unnatural posture for humans. It requires supernatural transformation. To be as one, we must turn to heaven for help. Jesus showed us how—through prayer. Because unity doesn’t just happen by osmosis, we have to keep talking about it, praying about it, pursuing it. We have to keep “unboxing.”

In the next few days, we’ll take a closer look at how we can avoid getting trapped in the divisive boxes of economic status, religious allegiance, and political affiliation.

Name a “box” that you belong to or want to belong to. Though this box might have good qualities, identify the ways it might also separate you from others and go against Jesus’ wish that we could be unified.