"Where you stand depends on where you sit."

 

Standing up for what is right requires clarity and a full perspective.  If you can't see it, if it doesn't affect you or those you love, you're likely to sit on the sideline, perhaps unaware of what to others is brutality and injustice.

"Where you stand depends on where you sit."  This summary of Miles' law refers to the perspective of those within an organization and how their perception depends on their place in it.  That 'place' imposes limits on what they experience, who they get to know, and what they understand.  The principle applies to the rest of us as well in the broader matters of life.

• For those of us who are not routinely subjected to discrimination, the death of George Floyd or Elijah McClain or Ahmaud Arbery were just passing incidents of no significance.  
• For those with sufficient reliable income, the abusive labor practices of some large retailers are inconsequential.  
• For the typical middle-class family, quality education and healthcare are readily available, and the struggle others might face is rarely considered.  Poverty is a distant irrelevance.
• Unless your family is fleeing from violence and crime, from war, brutality and abuse ... refugees are easily dismissed.
• The reality faced by millions is unfortunately invisible to many of us.

At the root of these difficulties in perspective we find a heart problem.  When one neither knows nor cares about such things, the result is a narrow life centered around self and comfort.  Walking blindly by on the other side of the street is the unconscious norm, even for people who have been raised in church.  

Where you stand depends on where you sit.  

Some will take a stand for truth, for justice, for compassion.  Some will take a stand against immigrants or against countries that send us their "criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc."  Some will stand up for the poor and disenfranchised, and some will declare that individual effort is all that's needed for success.  Each reveals where they have lived and how their experience has shaped their perspective, their ideology.

So how might we avoid wrong thinking and perhaps see more clearly?  How might we encourage those we love to consider a broader view?  Is there a simple path we might explore?

When Jesus began his teaching, he faced a similar dilemma.  Many who heard him were themselves in the upper echelons and were perhaps more concerned with maintaining the status quo than in hearing what God had to say.   The ideological conflict continued predictably until the day when they brutally crucified him ... and continues to this day.

Those who willingly received His message were shown a different path.  If they followed it, however imperfectly, they found themselves changed; at once, forever, and continuously.  

Raised by a loving Father, they began to understand life and their choices.  They began to truly see others.  Love grew beyond simple attachment and blossomed to include compassion, empathy, willing sacrifice, and covenant commitment.  The cost was absolute as was the benefit.  The love He taught them by his example and instruction changed the course of history.  

The organized church has struggled through the years against cultural influence.  Fellowships found themselves complicit in wars, slavery and genocide, the Inquisition, murderous racism, and brutal legalistic oppression.  Following the same trend, religious leaders today have joined with secular forces resulting in a stunning decline in reputation and legitimacy.  

That's not the path our Father offered.  That's not the good news Jesus brought.  The example we've been offered by the organized church misses the magnificent heart of God and the grace He extends to us through each moment of our lives.  As we walk with Him, the one who loves us and lifts us up, we learn and mature through the years, the centerpiece of it all, the life He gives.

Wonderfully, His path continues there in front of us all.  Even through the darkest nights, we needn't fear.  He is with us, always.