Newly Created

We seek commonality. Do we not latch onto that which is familiar?

I would argue that even our differences become commonalities, when those differences intrigue us. Why would someone intrigue us, unless we identify a part of ourselves within them?

Maybe they excel in that which we aspire to. Is this not inspiration?

I have heard the idea tossed around that, to be truly progressive, we should rid ourselves of preconceived ideas about what "this" or "that" mean.

I maintain that not all preconceptions are bad. Our instincts communicate to us, alert us to universal truths.

It has been said, for example, that the only universally despised quality in a man, across any culture alive, is cowardice.

When men see that quality of "beauty" within a woman, he cannot help but to look. This is not a rational decision.

We rise above some of our instincts - greed, lust, any quality unrestrained. These are the instincts which, as new creations in Christ, belong to what Paul called "the former self".

But do we not also see that the New Self shares some of the qualities of the old? It does not lust, but it is sexual. It does not envy, but it is still ambitious and assertive. It does not descend into bottomless appetites, but it still appreciates flavour and beauty and taste.

I find that the Old Self makes a damned big show of its appetites. Its rationalizations to this end are rather tiring and irritating.

I thereby contend that part of our responsibility as Christians is to be INTRIGUING and INSPIRING to others. If we truly share the qualities of the divine, how can we be boring? If we truly love another as we love, how then can we be careless in seeking common ground?