Tethered

As I was packing for a romantic little getaway a while back, I thought it best I try on the dress I was planning to wear for dinner one night. It fit better than the day I bought it! If I'm being candid, I gave myself something of a pat on the back. All my walking was paying off! I wasn't always satisfied with my physical appearance. I told myself I was just trying to be healthy, but my habits were far from healthy, and my idea of health was designed around what I saw on the cover of fashion magazines. I was ashamed of the body God had given me. Anger and intolerance masked the fear and insecurity I felt. I thought walls made of coarse language and brutality toward others would protect the very lonely, very vulnerable person in me. Not until I joined my life to Christ, did I begin to enjoy and appreciate the resources He has given me. The world's standards for beauty and femininity are generally not God's; they are not what I should seek and, therefore, not a source of condemnation. Society doesn't determine my worth. The transformation God's Spirit has begun in my heart has transformed my behavior as well: I am not threatened by comparison and provoked to protect or defend who God has made me to be. Sadly, I think we're seeing a lot of that defensive behavior today. 

Modern psychology teaches human beings respond to threats (real or imagined) in one of four ways:

•     Fight: Confronting extreme stress or danger boldly and with aggression
•     Flight: Removing oneself from the danger or stressful situation
•     Freeze: Remaining static in the face of danger; a physical or even mental paralysis
•     Fawn: Pleasing or mollifying the source of the threat in order to end or avoid the threat

Fight was my preferred response to a threatening world. And it doesn't take but a few minutes on the internet to see I wasn't alone. Anger, rage, defiance, and uber-entitlement explode into vulgar outbursts and violence toward others. Fight! People --women in particular --are so angry! Crassness is the shield powerless women carry. Hate is the armor worn by the terrified. The "go-to" of women's empowerment is not only to abandon femininity, but pervert it and denigrate it, make a mockery of it altogether. But who benefits from this? Do women actually become empowered? No. By eliminating femininity, by telling women they can be everything men are, a lie is propagated and women are erased, stuck between hating who God made them to be and knowing they are failing to meet society's expectations. What a terrifying place to be!    

And it's not only women. All of Western society has championed a "make-up-your-own-morality" way of life. There is no single standard, no set truth. How does a group of people survive, much less thrive cohesively, without a single standard? All of society remains untethered to a proprietary pole and, therefore, untethered to, not in community with one another. We cannot be an "us" without commonality. Each individual is spending their lives trying to figure out their own morality, their own standards of behavior and character. How can they possibly bear the burden of developing the same for their family? for their community? for the world? Not only are we not on the same page, but our own personal pages are being edited and recollated day after day. What's the old bumper sticker? Don't follow me; I'm lost too! This lack of a single standard, this untethering from anything eternal, consistent, and larger than we are is the threat. It may be sold as freedom, but it is the greatest lie, the greatest source of fear and uncertainty, of instability there is! And what does the caged dog do when threatened? It lashes out. Humanity, masculinity, femininity is threatened. On a most basic level, we no longer choose to accept who God has made us to be, male and female. We don't celebrate His creation; we loathe it, in each other, in ourselves. This is what is sending us into such a rage, into such a tumultuous, hypocritical, frenetic state of mind. The world is a fearsome place! Fearsome to women and fearsome to men. Fight!

But it is easier to tear down; to rage rather than reconcile. It is within us all to react when we experience vulnerability. The key to a better society is to be different, to act in a manner that goes against our sinful, corrupted nature; to stand outside our feelings and seek a more perfect benchmark for our conduct; to trust our identity to Someone greater than ourselves. Truth can save us; Jesus is our Hope. It is time for His people to pray for those who have believed a lie (as we once did); to carry the truth of Jesus to the ends of the earth and make disciples for His glory; to live a life that entices others to worship Him; to serve Him, seek Him, and deny our own desires. When we are bound --tethered --to Jesus, our identity is clarified and our eternity is made sure. We can beat our swords into plowshares, and our spears into pruning hooks (Micah 4:3) because we serve the King over all kings. The fight is His and we are truly free!