Daily Archive

So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:5 (NIV)

Take a look around you. Right now. While your reading this. What do you see? Look for details. Colors. Shapes. People and the various details of their presence (hair color, eyes, voice inflections, clothing tastes and colors).

Now take a deep breath and smell whatever aromas are around you. Listen to the various sounds. Try for a moment to let your senses take complete control of you and focus on the details, not the whole.

Have you ever take time to contemplate the huge variety of differences around us? Even just looked out the window to take notice of the many shades of green? Our world is full of a vast amount of variety. All of that ‘stuff’ that makes up our environment works together in perfect harmony. Were it not for man’s influence on our environment many of the problems it has would probably be non-existent because nature, in and of itself is marked by two things: variety and harmony, or if we want to narrow it down further, all of nature works together in unity.

Isn’t it interesting that when Jesus prayed his last prayer in the garden, just hours before he was brutally murdered, he prayed for unity among believers? He didn’t pray that we’d all have the same doctrinal beliefs. He didn’t pray for one denomination (frankly I think the idea of denominations was one reason he sweat great drops of blood!). Jesus prayed that all of us would work together just like the world he created, in perfect harmony amidst the variety.

How many marriages would be saved if the parties involved worked together in unity? How many churches would thrive if they let go of the denominational distinctions long enough to work towards bringing people to Jesus? How many people would be fed in third-world countries if rival political groups would set aside the things they disagree with to focus on feeding the starving people?

When God created the world, he created diversity because there is beauty in diversity. When he created you and me he didn’t use a rubber stamp because you and I working amidst the variety to create harmony is a thing of beauty.

Notice when Paul wrote to the Roman believers he wrote that we are all one body and not a group of bodies? We who claim to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior must celebrate the differences if we hope to win the world for Jesus. Set aside race issues. Destroy the ‘gender gap’. Eliminate the seclusion of denominational affiliation. Jesus calls us to go to ALL the world to bring the needy to him. Our time is short. It’s time to celebrate the differences!

PRAYER: Father God, You have created such a beautiful world full of variety and harmony. I pray that we, as your followers would celebrate the differences you have given us. Show us how to live in harmony and set aside the things that divide us. Please start with me. In Jesus name, Amen.