Are you tired of seeing division wherever you look? Do you ask, “Can’t we all just get along?” How do you look at someone who is different than you? Are you willing to accept a person who looks different, comes from a different culture, or disagrees with you?
It is no secret that we are attracted to and migrate toward people who think and act as we do. We feel comfortable with people of like mind. We prefer to be with people who like to do the things we like to do. This is human nature.
However, we are called to unity with everyone who is in Christ. This means we are to be in unity with people who may not agree with us on any number of topics. Isn’t it sad that we can worship in unity with Cubs or Cardinals fans, but we struggle to do so with democrats or republicans? We allow different viewpoints to hinder us from worshiping in unity.
Let’s go a step further. We may not be willing to worship with someone from a different denomination. We may be unable to be comfortable listening to a message from a Catholic Priest, Methodist Pastor, Baptist Pastor, Presbyterian Pastor, or Church of Christ Preacher. We disagree to a point of division over the liturgy, or the way communion is served.
Why is unity in diversity important? God is diverse. He created us to be different, yet to be unified in Him. He created different cultures. It is true that God has set a few rules. But He did not write a liturgy nor tell us how to worship, other than to worship in truth and with our whole heart.
If we are in Christ, then Christ is in us. That means all of us. Therefore, when we reject someone who is in Christ, we reject Him. Our rejection may not be obvious. It comes in the form of complaints, gossip, being standoffish, or simply refusing to talk to someone else. We reject others in both blunt and subtle ways.
Christ has called us to complete unity (John 17:23). It is in our unity that we properly represent Him. It is in unity that we can do mighty works in His name. It is in unity we operate as one body. It is in unity we can truly celebrate Christ, worship God, and defy Satan’s schemes.
I pray we all seek to accept one another in Christ. I pray we unify as one body, just as Christ intended. I pray each one of us discard our old ways to be a new creation in Christ. Be unified in Christ. Accept one another in Christ. Be one body. Celebrate as one. Worship as one. Work as one.
Colossians 3:11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Marty Pressey 