Plasticity

DateLine (2/7/07 – Nanuet, NY)

plas·tic·i·ty–noun
1. the quality or state of being plastic.
2. the capability of being molded, receiving shape, or being made to assume a desired form: the plasticity of social institutions; the great plasticity of clay.

It’s stronger than steel. It can be made to masquerade for the more traditional materials of leather and wood. They even build cars from it. Plastic is everywhere. When I was a kid the only plastic that you could find in a car was in the toy bin of the local 5 and Dime. Our food is packaged in it. What happened to those delicious hamburgers of yesterday wrapped in wax paper and carried out in a paper box?

We’ve grown to accept plastic in unconventional places; in the products that we purchase. But I’m beginning to notice that this ubiquitous material of the modern culture is showing up in what I hope is unintentional ways. Smooth scripted politicians; plastic. Tightly focused demographic radio with tight playlists; plastic. Highly coiffured TV evangelist; plastic. The culture is melting into a homogeneous politically correct lump of plastic. Diversity is giving way to bland conformity.

Compare this to characters found in the Bible. Brothers as different as night and day; one carefree wooly outdoorsman, the other a devious domesticated momma’s boy who keeps alive the lineage of Christ. A shepherd boy who slays a giant that men twice his size feared, rises to the position of King of his people, and dances for joy in the streets. A prophet who marries a prostitute to dramatize how Israel has become faithless by worshipping other gods. A preacher dressed in animal skins preaching in an almost uninhabitable wilderness and getting by on bug stew. Jesus Himself, weeping with friends over death, fiery with anger in running profiteers from the temple. The Bible is a celebration of the diverse imagination and creativity of a majestic God.

Now to be honest the Bible speaks of God molding His creation; as a potter does to clay. Is this an attempt to produce armies of uniform creatures? The lesson of Scripture is that God is not pressing us into homogeneity. God is carefully crafting one-of-a kind masterpieces. God meticulously designed each one of us. He is personally so familiar with our individual makeup that He knows the number of hairs on our head. We are uniquely gifted for to serve a purpose in His movement. God is the initiator; not of plasticity, but of individuality.

One of the greatest lessons that we can learn is to accept God’s diversity. This is not to mean that we do not celebrate many common traits and attributes, but it is an appeal to see the uniqueness within each of us as a reflection of a remarkably diverse God.

Romans 9:21 “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”

Isaiah 64:8 “Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

Jeremiah 18:4 “But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”

The unique characteristics that make up who you are could be the thumbprints of a loving Artisan; God Himself. Let’s celebrate our diversity; not our plasticity.