“Oh my aching back!” Have you ever said or heard those words? Many of us have had the unpleasant experience of a backache that seemed to produce pain no matter which way we moved. If we were fortunate, it was a strain caused by postural misalignment and we were able to go to a chiropractor, who “adjusted” our spine, bringing our body back into proper alignment. Immediately we felt improvement and breathed a sigh of relief!
Alignment is the process of adjusting parts so they come into proper relationship to each other. If parts are not correctly aligned, performance can be negatively altered. Take a sport like golf for instance. A golfer can have a perfect swing, but if his feet, knees, hips and shoulders are not all lined up parallel to the target line, his ball is not going to go where he wants it to go. If you’ve ever watched “Dancing with the Stars,” you’ve heard the judges critique the contestants’ body alignment. The head, shoulders and hips need to be aligned vertically, so the dancer can maintain a stable center of gravity and have smooth and graceful movements.
Bodies aren’t the only things that need aligning. If you ever experienced your car’s steering wheel pulling to the left or right, you knew that it was time for a wheel alignment. Hopefully you had it done before the misalignment caused excessive wear on your tires.
Human relationships too can be misaligned. Ever know a family where the 2 year-old toddler ruled? If so, you were aware of a group of individuals under chronic stress and often in strife. When our human relationships are not properly aligned, they become unhealthy and produce discontent and disharmony. We feel uneasy deep inside, become irritable and uptight. We need a life adjustment!
God created us to relate to one another by aligning in the mutual love, respect and unity that will produce peace and harmony. He encourages us in Philippians 2:1b-3: “Let your hearts be tender and compassionate to one another. Agree wholeheartedly with one another, love each other, and work together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish and try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.”
The current unrest in the Middle East demonstrates what can happen when these principles of human relationships remain misaligned at a national level for too long. To date, 11 different nations have experienced some degree of public protest. Each one of them is characterized by a small ruling elite class and the oppression of many citizens, resulting in poverty, anger and now, open revolt.
God’s alignment of human relationships results in leaders who seek to serve others, with people submitting to leadership they experience as loving and trustworthy. We can not get “adjusted” in isolation. Only in proper alignment with others can we find the life adjustment that will provide us the peace and satisfaction we seek!
Please come and join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM to continue this discussion of aligning our human relationships God’s way. My sermon “Aligning for Reformation” is Part 8 in our “reformers’ Pledge” series.
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