Why opponents are some of God’s richest blessings

Aren’t you glad you have opposable thumbs (if you have them)?

Try to think of all that you can do with them that you can’t do without them.

What would the world be without the pressure between fingers and thumb?

So it is with the best things in life.

Take marriage for example. It is the “opposable” nature of my relationship with Tracy that makes our life together better than what it would be if we didn’t have each other. The gentle resistance between us makes each of us a better person and, together, makes us a sum greater than its parts.

As the Bible says: “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits of another,” (Book of Proverbs 27:17).

Fingers and opposable thumb. It works for a good, growing-in-love, growing-in-wisdom marriage.

It also works wherever people come together for a purpose that is bigger than each person alone.

It works for the church. The Bible calls the church “the body of Christ” (First Corinthians 12:12-26) and surely that body has opposable thumbs! In the Book of Acts, Chapter 15, we see the church assemble to work through a matter of great importance. The Christians in that assembly came with good intentions, but they had as strong a disagreement as they could have about a matter of fundamental importance. As the story goes, they deliberated and prayed for days. They “debated” (15:7). In the end, they reached a consensus that pleased most everyone a little and surprised all of them a lot. That decision changed human history for the better.

I believe the “opposable thumb” principle is God’s design for human beings reaching their potential. We’d like to believe that the world would be a better place if everyone would behave and think as we do, but nature seems to say otherwise. We are happiest, healthiest, and most whole as persons, as communities, and as a society when “fingers” and “thumb” meet.

One of the great dangers facing all of us now is that we forget the “opposable thumb principle.” Nowadays, when we meet “opposable thumbs” as we go through life, we often imagine them to be enemies that need to be cut off and thrown away. We fail to see that by getting rid of opposition, we are getting rid of the best chance to be our best.

I imagine my Christian friends may object: But the devil is out there stirring up trouble against us! Surely we will meet real enemies who mean to do us harm!

True. But remember, a finger pushes back against the thumb.

Being Christian does not mean being passive or timid.

But for the Christian, our Lord demonstrates and teaches the way that we are to “push back” against true enemies.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous,” (Jesus the Christ in the Gospel of Matthew 5:43-45).

When his enemies tortured and executed him for crimes he did not commit, Jesus prayed: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing,” (Gospel of Luke 23:34).

The Spirit of the Christ inspired these words of the apostle Paul:

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them…do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all…beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘ Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.’ Instead, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,” (Letter to the Church of Christ from Rome 12:14-20).

These words of the Christ for Christians apply to all enemies and opponents. Even the people we only know from social media and the politicians we see on TV.

In my experience, however, there are far fewer real enemies out there than many folks seem to imagine these days. We are getting too much practice meeting “opposable thumbs” and imagining them to be devils. God help us.

You would not imagine that your hands would be stronger if you cut off your own thumbs.

So think twice next time you want to cut down or cut off an opponent.

You may be weakening yourself and despising the very one God sent to help you into the abundant life.

Grace and peace.

Photo by Sunder Muthukumaran on Unsplash