When the Divergent books first came out, I didn't really make the connection that the theme of the book was spiritual in nature. But as I was searching for a lesson to teach the 6th and 7th grade girls this Sunday, I came across a 6 week study about the book series and how it relates to us as Christians today. Now, we don't have 6 weeks to do this study...we have one Sunday before we start our D6 curriculum. I needed to condense the info into one hour! I thought I'd start by looking at the setting of the book.
It's set in a dystopian society. The definition is this: an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one...
Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say that our world is the definition of Dystopia...but we are pretty close. Just look at the news headlines and you'll see the meaning of unpleasant and bad...and even that our world is "falling" apart with polar ice caps melting and forests burning to the ground. So when I start to compare the people of what was once Chicago, IL to us today, it's easy for me to see that we're not that different.
Thankfully, we aren't made to take a test when we turn 16 that determines which people group we should belong to and cut ties with our parents if that group happens to be something other than theirs. But lets take a look at those factions, as they're called in the book...
You've got Amity (the peaceful), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Erudite (the intelligent), and Abnegation (the selfless). If the 16 year old tested with more than one faction, they could either choose the faction they felt was the best fit, or they could live with the factionless which was probably a worse fate then death to them. Also if they tested with more than one faction, they were considered Divergent...meaning they didn't fit the mold and they were to be feared because they couldn't be controlled.
This is where the "believer" is today. We're called out as weirdos, zealots, crazy...most non-believers can't understand how we can trust God...how we can put our faith into something so intangible that we may never truly see evidence that He even exists. That is why our faith is so great. In 2 Corinthians 6:17 it says, "Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord..."
And in Romans 12:2 He tells us, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will. "
If you look at the individual factions, you'll see they are all good in nature...but even Jesus wasn't so selfless that he didn't take care of his spiritual needs before helping others. When the disciples called to him while he was praying alone, he explained to them that he needed that quiet time with God to prepare himself for the next task. Jesus was also a very peaceful man, but not so peaceful that he wouldn't flip the tables of people who were selling and buying animals for sacrifice within the temple which was a sacred house of prayer. He was also honest no matter what, and brave even to his death, and he knew that he needed to teach his disciples that they should never stop learning about God and the Word and that their relationship with God should never stop growing.
We aren't meant to fit into one personality mold. We were meant to stand out and draw the attention of those seeking or lost. Some of you may be searching for yourself and who you are out in the world.
So what does it mean to be a Divergent (Christian)? "It means that when we accept Christ, we have entered into a relationship which changes our old sinful DNA into a new creation, something reborn and repurposed for higher things. We receive the Holy Spirit as our helper and the "tests" that the world tries to give us, and label us, should come back with an inconclusive result making us among the "divergent"...(blogger Daira Curran). 2 Corinthians 5:17 "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"
As middle schoolers, it's easy to say we want to just fit in with everyone else. We have a choice...3 options...
- We separate ourselves and become like the factionless, wandering through life feeling powerless and often purposeless. While we know the Creator of all power and purpose, we struggle with our identity, believe the lies of the enemy and are not envied by the rest of society. We are considered by many people to be outcasts. Or…
- We conform to a faction. We find our worth through one characteristic, skillset or strength. We play a role that we deem is who we are in this life, sometimes even apart from Christ, other times just as a separate compartment. For instance, we compartmentalize our occupation, family, God, hobbies and so on. We become camouflaged. We blend in too well with the world and we stop God’s light from coming through us and into the windows of people’s hearts.
- Or we become divergent. We live out the Gospel every day no matter what persecution we face. And we blend the virtues of those factions. A little bit of everything in us.
We have something extremely attractive to others if we present the Gospel correctly because we have Christ to offer. So when we think we're not good enough or popular enough, smart enough or talented enough...we have to remember that we were created in God's own image...we are His creation and He didn't leave anything out of our "recipe" when He was cooking us up. He put us right where He wanted us for the purpose of fulfilling His will in our lives.
**options 1 and 2 were also found in the blog by Daira Curran
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