Parousia...Casual/Ties

Casual/Ties

Images of warfare blaze on the news.  Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan are the most visible battlegrounds.  Other hotspots include Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Ethiopia, and Congo.  Potential combat zones include Iran and North Korea, and let’s not forget about China and Taiwan.

Daily we witness our fellow humans being carried on stretchers out of rubble heaps that were formerly apartment buildings, cafes, and marketplaces.  Perhaps the most haunting scenes are dead children in the arms of their parents.

Reporters tend to refer to the dead as “casualties.”  This is a perfectly appropriate—albeit somewhat ambiguous—word.  Casualties are people lost, wounded, or destroyed especially in wartime.  If the headline reads, “Twenty-Four Casualties,” we assume that two dozen people died in warfare.  Yet, it could mean that the people survived while suffering injuries.

Casualties of war.  It seems so matter-of-fact.  Casualties of war give the impression of inevitability.  If there is going to be war, there are going to be casualties.  But maybe we should inquire into the assumption that there must be war.  Maybe we could ask: why do we fight?

Certainly all wars have their unique causes.  Desire for expansion.  Imperialism.  Religious hatred.  Ego in leadership.  Fear.  Racism.  Acquisition of natural resources.  Nationalism.  Retaliation.

The Book of James suggests greed as a primary instigating factor. “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?  You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.”

Sometimes the causes of war are complex and multifaceted.  Without attempting to over-simplify the reasons people go to war, I believe that far too many casualties happen due to casual ties.  In other words, many hostilities begin because people do not have a close bond with one another.

One nation refuses to recognize another, and so the two end up fighting.  One set of leaders withdraws diplomatic ties from another, and the two begin battling.  While we could focus all of our attention on international conflicts, we should not neglect looking a little closer to home.

Intimate ties in our relationships lead to greater understanding and deeper love.  The less casual our ties are with one another the more likely we are to seek one another’s best interests.

This week seek to be less casual with your relationships.  Instead of remaining at a distance, find ways of intentionally drawing closer together.  Nurture your relationship with your spouse, children, neighbors, co-workers—and most of all yourself.  Sometimes own inner being becomes a casualty of an internal conflict.  Learning more about yourself can help ease the tension.

You can begin sowing the seeds of intimacy by growing in awareness of the close tie God already has with you.  God is not at war with you.  Instead, reflect on what the apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:19-21. God has reconciled all things to himself—and this includes you.  God does not have casual ties with you because God is not interested in causing casualties.  Meditate on this for a while.  Let it sink deep into your heart.

When you do, perhaps your new emerging awareness will propel you to look outward and develop less casual ties with the people in your life, which will cause fewer casualties.