Enjoy the diversity
“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1Cor. 12:7) It is our tendency as humans to try and place God in a box. We study His word, get our biblical degrees and suddenly we become ‘smarter than God.’ Only problem is that the Lord is too big for our box. He will not only go outside of it but He will blow it up. That is one of many things I love about Christianity.
Every believer has a gift from the Holy Spirit, and the beauty of it is that God determines what gift, or gifts, you and I have. In our Christian faith, our diversity is our strength. When men try to force one particular gift on every believer, they reveal their failure to understand biblical diversity. Frankly, I enjoy and love the diversity within Christ’s body. Life would be boring without it. Sameness creates blandness and blandness creates a colorless and washed out view of reality.
The Lord has a way of placing various believers with diverse gifts in our life and our churches. What if every believer had the gift of service, who would they serve? What if every believer had the gift of leadership, who would they lead? The Apostle Paul recognized this when he taught the Corinthians that the different parts, whether they are eyes, hands or feet, must not neglect the other parts.
If we attempt to promote any one gift as the gift that all must have in order to be spiritual or Spirit-filled, we contradict Paul’s teaching and create an artificial standard for maturity. Plus, we set aside the uniqueness of diversity. The Lord apportions the gifts to each one as He wills. (1Cor. 12:11) If we will begin to enjoy and benefit from the gifts of others that differ from our gifts, we will experience a greater fullness and appreciation for the wisdom of God to distribute the gifts in a healthy fashion. When our three boys were little, we could always determine which left their toys out. If the yellow toys were in the forefront is was our youngest—he loved anything yellow. If the toys were in orderly fashion like the parking lot of a car dealership, our middle son had done it. If it looked like a bomb went off and scattered them across the room, it was our oldest.
The Lord makes each person different and when they are saved He gives diverse gifts to each believer that differ according to his Divine plan. If we all sang in the choir, who would we sing to? Next time someone says you must have this gift or that gift as a sign of spirituality, tell them you will trust what God has seen fit to give you. Freedom comes when we enjoy the way Christ has equipped us, and enjoy how He has made us different. Let us have unity, but concerning gifts, let us take time to…enjoy the diversity!
