“No caricatures allowed”, I tell myself.
I have to tell this to myself often on the race. I suppose it’s something that comes with living so closely with 6 other people at all times. These are my brothers and my sisters. My family and Christ’s “body”. Yet often it’s easier to make them into caricatures.
Caricatures come especially easy when my teammates are getting on my nerves. It’s easier to make a hyperbole of their failures and annoying ticks than it is to readjust my perspective, take a deep breath, and see them honestly. It’s much less satisfying to do this.
The reality is that caricatures provide a way to demonize others. To make them opponents. Competitors. Enemies.
It’s been used as a tactic of war before. Kill the enemy. They are less human than you. Stripping the beautiful, messy, tender humanity of others makes it much easier to view them as an enemy in the mind. This is still being used as a war tactic, though my war is not against flesh and blood. My war is much more subtle, but no less gory, than the skirmishes throughout history. My war is one of the spirit, where everything is at stake. My enemy is trying to turn my allies into enemies. He’s hoping that I’ll take his bait, turn on my brothers and sisters, and be a house divided against itself.
And I’ve let it happen. I’ve been part of the voice of accusation. I’ve complained, gossiped, and slandered. I’ve bought into the lie of seeing others as caricatures—flimsy drawings that I mock and disregard. I’ve seen others only a compilation of their picky eating habits and offenses. It’s sad, but true.
No longer. I want no part of that. I don’t to use my mouth to destroy and dismember others. I want to see my brothers and sisters the way that Jesus does. I want to listen for their heart, even when it’s not obvious. I want to search beyond the surface to see who they really are. I want to stand up for them, even when they get on my nerves. I want my mind, my heart, and my mouth to be set apart for the kingdom of God. And that means…no caricatures allowed.
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12
If a house is divided against itself cannot stand. – Mark 3:25
