The world has a saying, ‘United we stand, divided we fall’, and this is so very true. Part of our struggle towards unity is learning to love and accept others as they are (Rom 15:7) and not being afraid of our differences. We have to learn to value each individual for who they are, not looking down on others or feeling impatient and frustrated by differences. Casting Crowns’ song ‘City On The Hill’ is a timely warning as to what happens when we are scornful of these differences:
‘You see the poets thought the dancers were shallow
And the soldiers thought the poets were weak
And the elders saw the young ones as foolish
And the rich man never heard the poor man speak
But one by one, they ran away
With their made up minds to leave it all behind
And the light began to fade
In the City on the Hill, the City on the Hill
Each one thought that they knew better
But they were different by design
Instead of standing strong together
They let their differences divide.’ (‘City On The Hill’, Casting Crowns)
It’s always sad when Christians let their differences divide instead of letting them inspire and unite. We need diversity. We need the differences God has put in our church. We need each other. We don’t get to pick and choose who is in the church; that is God’s job, and He has placed each one of us where He wants us to be. Iron sharpens iron, Proverbs 27:17 tells us, and as we learn to work together, despite all our differences, we find we are indeed living stones who are being fitted together by God. (1 Pet 2:5)
