EXCLUSIVITY

Imagine buying a car, but it’s shared property with the whole town.  It would be pretty hard to count on a ride in the morning when it was time for work.  Now the payments are exclusively yours, but the use of it, well it’s only fair that you share, right?  Imagine that kind of arrangement with your apartment or home.  You’re renting or you’ve bought a place, but it’s not exclusive to just you.  No sir!  You get joint use of it with the rest of the community. 

Some might think this kind of arrangement would lead to unity because everyone knows that exclusivity is such a non-loving word.  That wasn’t sarcasm, but rather an amplification of absurdity.  Imagine one more extreme example of sharing.  You’re getting married and the arrangement is such that you’ll be exclusive to your significant other, but you get to share your spouse with the neighborhood.  Sounds completely disgusting, doesn’t it?  It sure doesn’t sound like kindness, goodness, or morality. 

Here’s what God had to say about a similar arrangement His people insisted on being involved in.  Hosea 4:12, “My people consult their [lifeless] wooden idol, and their [diviner’s] wand gives them oracles.  For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray [morally and spiritually], And they have played the prostitute, withdrawing themselves from their God.”  When we say we love things and then sing “We love you Lord”, our divided affections are disgusting to Him.  Without exclusivity you cannot enjoy true unity. 

When your marriage is based on true unity, you can better love and serve others.  When you practice healthy exclusivity with the ownership of your car, you can commit to giving others a ride to work or church or the grocery store.  When you practice exclusivity in worship to the One True God, you have a strong faith activated to pray for the sick, the needy, and those who are in bondage to false gods. 

People need help.  You help them from a strong place, not a weak place.  You give from having, not from failing to possess.  You support others with strength, resource, and choice.  Not from mandated unity.  The moment choice is gone, you are unauthorized, and therefore unable to do the greatest act on earth...give.           

The modern culture talks unity like it’s the panacea of the ages.  “There’s gold in them there hills!”  Apparently in the love filled sixties creatures called hippies would infest public parks intoxicated with a form of love (and probably several forms of grass, mushroom, and other hallucinogens) to begin swaying back and forth in a groovy protest for group love and unconditional peace.  History tells us it was basically group immorality demanding peace that others had the privilege of paying for.  When you work a job that paycheck at the end of the week is exclusively yours, until someone else decides we need social unity at the expense of your exclusivity.  Right now, it could be just a percentage of your paycheck, but smart people have the habit of justifiably moving the boundaries to gradually take over your choices, your equity, next your children, and other personal freedoms.  Ahh, but it’s all for unity, isn’t it? 

Without a standard of moral exclusivity there can be no healthy unity.  You can’t have a real marriage without a standard of Biblical exclusivity.  You can’t even have a good working engine without a proper alignment of parts exclusively designed to fit and function according to manufacturer’s standard. 

Do you need one more example?  A rancher knows how to care for his cows and steers.  He places a high value on each one.  Did you know that a valuable bull can cost north of twenty or thirty thousand dollars?  And yet the owner practices exclusivity?  What do I mean?  He doesn’t allow his cows to live in his house.  He doesn’t even keep a bale of hay in the dining room just in case a steer drops by. 

The deceiver of humanity tries to manipulate many into a prejudice against words like ‘exclusivity’ so he can blur the lines of morality.  The devil wants to demolish the borders of life, redefining crazy as freedom.  The arch enemy can’t even promote rebellion without stealing, copying, plagiarizing God’s ideas.  He just twists stuff.    

Be exclusive to the Truth of God’s Word.  That means exclude all lies and fear from your belief system.  Yes, pursue unity, but base it on the exclusivity of the manufacturer’s standard.  You don’t want a car engine with a rouge part from your dishwasher in it.  You don’t want a life in unity with destructive works of the enemy, but exclusively in harmony with God’s Truth, life, way, and plans. That’s unstoppable!

Pray the Word:

Father God I only want to consult You about my life and future.  Help me Lord.  Fill me with Your Spirit.  Help me draw near to You, every day, and in every way.  I want to be exclusive to Your family, and Your family Name.  My Father I want to believe Your Truth at every turn in my life, and never fall again for the lies of the deceiver.  Unite my heart to reverently worship You Father God.  You make me unstoppable in Christ Jesus.  Thank you for Your peace and unfailing provision. In Jesus mighty Name ... Amen. 

P.S.  I never get tired of telling you this, but you are so important to us.  Jesus paid full price to redeem your life and that makes you a very precious, heavenly commodity.  You are a child of God!  It’s never too late to start your life of giving so please be sure to share this with someone today. Your voice matters.  God bless you!