Is to be avoided at all cost. Don’t make a fuss. Protect the status quo. Go along to get along. Live and let live. I’m ok, you’re ok.
So we tell ourselves—most often silently, covertly, in the hidden places of our subconscious. This is all about survival and self-protection, but in the extreme can end up inviting the very dangers we seek to avoid.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, of course, lies equal danger: Ruffling feathers for the sake of ruffling feathers. Challenging norms or calling out systems simply for the sake of battle. Being contrary for the thrill of being novel or unique.
Immaturity can lead you in two opposite directions: Willfully ignorant compliance, or arrogantly aggressive criticism. Both options are their own form of cowardice to simply accept reality as it comes.
The way of maturity (to which Jesus invites his followers) is a third way: To not become a violent aggressor towards others with differing ideas or practices from my own. And to not be surprised when others are stirred up by my own differing ideas or practices, nor to keep them under wraps out of fear.
Jesus welcomes us to follow him into reality, with all the bumps and bruises that come along the way.
