1 Corinthians 12:14&17 For in fact the body is not a single member, but many. If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would do the smelling?
God’s concept of intimate relationship is a challenge. Babies are naturally conceived only when a man and a woman come together: opposites and part of the whole, originally Adam. When Jesus chose disciples to take His message to the world, He chose people varied in skills, education, and personalities. Diversity, however, is a messy challenge.
A husband or wife may say, “Life would be so much easier if my spouse would just agree with me and do what I say.” That may be true, but ease is not the crux of a Christian life … growth is. Growth requires changing behaviors that are not Christlike. In the environment of homogenous ease, we are lulled into thinking we are mature. Yet in the pinch and struggle of honest, deep, and painfully meaningful relationships, our immaturity is exposed.
God is the originator and promoter of true diversity. The spirit of this age is promoting a diversity of types of people who have a uniform view, opinion, and beliefs. This merely requires compliance, rejection, and censorship. God’s blueprint for unity of diverse people was to give us one main job (love) and one main leader (Jesus). His approach to unity allows for differing opinions, views, weakness, strengths, and styles. If the whole body functioned as an eye, how could we hear? If the whole were an ear, how would we smell? It is crucial that we not be deceived by homogenous, superficial diversity. We must live and affirm true diversity, as God ordained it.