Unity and Diversity – One in Christ
I sat out on the back patio yesterday evening, preparing to barbecue supper. I had my Merlin app tracking the birds. It captured calls from 21 different species. That’s a lot of diversity for a small yard.
God likes diversity; it displays his creative power and love of beauty. The other evening, the sky was blue, grey, black, pink, yellow, purple, and more, depending on where you looked. White light refracts into eight colors. Who can count the species of plants, insects, birds and animals, or the stars in the sky?
He has given us different cultures, different personalities, and different spiritual gifts.
I love what I call “Holy-tonk” music. That is old hymns done with a rocking country beat. It hurts the ears of others. The same can be said about literature, fashion, the cars we drive and more.
Yet believers are unified in the Spirit.
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Ephesians 4:1-7
Distinct and different. Diversity and unity in a profound way.
We don’t have to look the same or worship the same way. We can have personal preferences and differences.
What a blessing. How boring it would be if we were all identical little Christian robots.
He has given us diversity so that we can learn to love others who are different from ourselves, to minister to those in different places, and to encourage us in a diversity of spirit united practices.
The next time someone walks through the doors of your local assembly who is different in some way, don’t tut-tut. Celebrate the wonder and creativity of the Living God.
Be blessed
Kevin