ODJ: divine diversity

March 10, 2015 

READ: Genesis 1:1-31 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (v.1).

If you’ve ever strolled through a botanical garden or an art museum, you know that diversity makes for beauty. For some reason, however, this doesn’t seem to work within the church.

As we grapple with how our local expressions of the body of Christ are separated by issues of culture, race, socioeconomics and theological distinction, it’s easy to believe that our diversity is the culprit for our disunity. Uniqueness and fine-tuned distinctions, however, are part of God’s original creation, intrinsic to the created world that He called “good” (Genesis 1:3-4).

In Genesis there was orderliness and harmony, a beautiful fusion of distinct realities. There was creature and creation, male and female, light and darkness, night and day, work and rest. The Creator separated “the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth” and ordered time around the rhythmic distinction between evening and morning (vv.6,8). God’s design was not for a world where everything was the same, but rather a world where all things (with all their multifaceted uniqueness) were gathered together in Him. Creation’s harmony existed because of its shared life in God, not because of any flat unanimity.

As God’s revelation unfolds, we discover that God exists as a trinity, the mystery of God being three-in-one. In God, there is unity and diversity. Humans, those who bear the Trinity’s image, also reflect God’s own reality. We, because of God, share a unity that can never be extinguished. But we are also diverse, each of us offering our unique selves within God’s world.

In Jesus, may we find ourselves living in harmony with one another, even as our unique selves shine brighter. —Winn Collier

365-day plan: Judges 13:1-25