Just marveling this morning at the diversity of people and how much different people add to the life of an individual. To be in a diverse group where there is love is a beautiful thing.
"All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?" - 1 Corinthians 12:11-19 ESV
Indeed. If everyone were the same what would life be like? Some things that people do seem exotic and we want to possess what we don't have but the beautiful thing about Church life is that in a sense we can have the benefit of what we don' t have by association.
"As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another." - 1 Corinthians 12:20-25 ESV
'Look how dirty you feet are. Tisk Tisk Tisk.' Diversity leaves room for care doesn't it? Nakedness gives a place for fashion. Ministry is centered in diversity. Care. Love. Help. Humor.
"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." - 1 Corinthians 12:26-27 ESV
Grace is so needed. It must reach every member. Like blood being pumped by the heart to reach every part of the body we also want the cleansing, nourishing and healing mercy of God to reach each portion in the body of Christ.
Thoughts from the mind direct the whole.
Comfort, honor and joy knit us together even as we are joined together.
I am glad to be a part of something today... something big and diverse. I am thankful for the Church I go to and the fellowships I have in an organized way. That is manifestation of the body but truly there is a larger grander manifestation in the world and in Heaven that we are also a part of... beautiful... really Beautiful.
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I couldn't agree more with this post! If everyone was the same,where and how would this world be? That's the beauty of diversity! We get to learn from one another by seeing items and factors in a whole new light. Thanks for sharing this post!
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