Be Divergent

Divergent :  [ diˈvərjənt, dī- ] : Adjective

Tending to be different or develop in different directions

This has been burning inside of me the past few weeks [after watching Insurgent, the sequel to movie Divergent]. If you haven’t seen the movies (or read the books if that fits your fancy) you may want to watch them before reading this blog, as I may spoil a few things while trying to draw connections to our lives today [sorry]. If you don’t care or have seen the movies, it is my prayer that this is an encouragement to you as you live as a alien on this Earth, awaiting  your true citizenship in Heaven. (And no, not everything from the movies can be directly correlated to our walk with the Lord, but some truly can).

Summary of two movies [skip if you have seen the movies, read the books or just want to get to the meat of this post]

Here is the jist of the first movie Divergent:

In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Beatrice Prior (Tris) learns she's Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late. (IMBd)

Tris is a normal girl who wishes to fit in and follow the “laws” put in place by the society around her, but after being tested to see which faction she should fit in, she doesn’t fail the tests, she passes them all. (This test is done to also find divergents so they can be eliminated because society states they are a threat to the order of the society). She is divergent. Throughout the movie as Tris realizes the weight of her “calling” or who she truly is, the fact that she is divergent, she faces many trials and tests. She wants to try to avoid it, try to pretend its not there, but it is inevitable that no matter what she does, she is different. She stands out and she is being hunted down for it, along with all others who are different as well. So, she has to learn how to stay alive and save thousands who are in danger.

Here is the jist of the second movie Insurgent:

Beatrice Prior must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart with the help from others on her side. (IMBd)

Tris and all of the divergents are in hiding because society has not only been trying to quietly eliminate them because they say they are threat to all civilization, but they are being hunted down to be terminated once and for all. However, Jeanine Matthews, the leader of the faction Erudites (the smarty pants group) wants to gain complete control of every faction thus being able to influence any as she pleases. She is motivated to do this because she knows the truth about the factions and doesn’t want to go back to the rest of the world, but rather stay in the factions with Erudite in control so that they would never leave the city (Hence, trying to take out the divergents who will change it all!)  In the beginning of the movie, a box is found,. It is a mysterious artifact that was hidden by Tris’ parents. They don’t know what it inside and Jeanine (evil lady) wants to open it because she believes it is the answer to destroying all divergents. But *GASP* only a Divergent with potential for all five factions can open the box, not another with potential for only a few of the factions. In the end, Tris has to fight through all five factions, completing them all, confronting her inner demons as the description says. In the end, there is a message inside stating explaining that the whole faction system is an experiment and that Divergents are the solution (not the problem) to the problems outside the fence (which is surrounding their “world”).  So, after this, everyone is able to return to the rest of the world.

[Resume here if you skipped the summary above!]
So… what does this have to do with being a child of God? This is what has been burning on my heart and the Lord spoke to me, encouraging my heart along this journey.
The Divergents were being persecuted, blamed, hunted down and attacked. Society was labeling them as the root cause of all their problems, because they broke all the “peace” and disturbed “their world”. They stood out and had a much different purpose and outlook of life from everyone else. They weren’t affected by the same things everyone else was and although they hadn’t seen that there anything outside those walls surrounding them, they felt it and had faith that there had to be more.
What about Christians today? What is our world saying about us? How much do we stand out and are blamed from the problems in this world because we are judgmental when really we are just speaking the truth? In the end, the Divergents were actually the exact opposite of what everyone told them they were…they were the solution! We as Christians, Christ followers, have the solution, know the solution…Jesus Christ. With that, we are Divergent to the society around us. People want to keep us quite, tell us we are problem and need just need to have tolerance. We are attacked for what we believe and even more if we try to speak or live it out.  The enemy has this world deceived and they want to shush us, push us down and eliminate us, nothing to disrupt “peace”. 
Then God spoke this to me: “Be Divergent. Don’t be ashamed of it, but speak out for the truth (Jesus). Do not conform to the patterns of this world. You have the victory of Jesus already, always with you-walk in that and set captives free.”

I wholeheartedly believe that our God did not give me this charge to hurt His creation or to shame them for acting foolishly out of being deceived. No, just as Tris and the other Divergents in the movie had a heart of love to save those around them who were being deceived as they embraced their divergency [yep, I just made up a word]… I know that this is God’s heart and so mine too. Many people in the Bible were divergents (Moses, Daniel, Paul, Peter, Jesus himself…just to name a few). But in Daniel 3:8-18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego are great examples of being divergent. They don’t conform to the patterns of the world by bowing down to worship the idol, even though they know it could mean dying a brutal death by being thrown into the fiery furnace. I can just picture it like a movie scene, thousands are bowing and there are these three (who all have high rankings in the kingdom might I add) just standing, looking straight forward at the idol not about to budge, their faces firm with boldness to honor God above all else. Wow! And because of their divergency they were thrown into the fire, but they were saved by God! And from that many were saved (shown who the true God worthy of worship is) and the name of the Lord was glorified.


Push through the fear of being Divergent, look to the Lord and be strengthened. It is worth it to grab a hold of your calling as a child of God, being Divergent in this world.  You are not alone, there are many other Divergents here, standing with you in faith that there is something more “outside the wall”, carrying out our mission to share the hope we have in Jesus and living by His ways not this worlds. Share the solution despite the hardship to, Jesus did and He is our greatest Divergent example of all.