Unity Amongst Diversity Is a Work of the Spirit!
I think we can all agree that many times in our lives we encounter challenges that seem beyond our ability to understand, beyond our ability to overcome, beyond our ability to “fix.”
If we are honest, that challenge quite often is with each other, those of us right here in the family of Christ.
In recent times, I have asked the Lord to continually grow us all into a deeper understanding of how to love one another deeply from the heart (1 Peter 4:8). In this season of our church history, is He calling us to understand His heart in fresh, new ways through the Holy Spirit’s enlightening? Is He calling us to learn the way of love despite our differences? Yes, I think that He is.
Recently, I found myself reading 1 Corinthians 12. Though I have read this passage many times, it fell afresh on my ears and heart as I absorbed each verse, one by one. This chapter tells us of the One God building His church through glorious diversity in His people and their various spiritual gifts. Therefore we shouldn’t expect the body of Christ to operate according to our personal preferences and inclinations. Diversity is God’s idea, and these passages reveal His plan for us through the example of the human body. I encourage you to read the whole chapter, but here are a few selected verses:
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all…
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
For in fact the body is not one member but many.
He is the author of diversity and He clearly has brought that to our precious Body, RBC, just as scripture indicates. May we embrace His idea of unity amongst diversity.
My prayer:
“Lord, how do we truly love one another when we are all so different with different backgrounds, different sensitivities, different blind spots, different perspectives, and even different spiritual gifts? Father, we praise You that You have cornered us into a place where we must rely on You to bring about unity through Your Spirit. Lord, we ask that You would make Your Presence known during this time. Father, we need You to empower us to love each other in ways we confess we cannot in our own strength. We need Your Spirit to grow us into a deeper understanding of love, because we know that if we love, we cannot fail. We ask that You give us your hopeful, wonderful perspective of how diversity is a way that You cause us to rely on YOU to love those around us. Amen.”
Sending my love to all of you always,
Julie Gustine (RBC Women’s Ministry Director)