For you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28)
It hadn’t always been this way. In the early days, there was so much learning to do. Marriage was hard! Different habits, backgrounds, styles, and opinions contributed to the need to learn and bend and adjust. And adjust they did.
Through the honeymoon, the expanding family, and the transitions, they learned to dance an amenable dance. As jobs changed and children grew, they each began to anticipate how the other would respond until they could complete each other’s thoughts and not wonder how they would partner in their decisions. Through seasons of loss, both husband and wife learned to lean on the other’s strength and to trust their steadfastness to remain.
God’s family is a beautiful mosaic of color and history. There is exquisite beauty when cultures collide to receive and learn from each other. And yet Paul told the Galatians that though they were different before, they were now all one in Christ Jesus.
Oneness with other people hinges on our willingness to bend. To walk in unity with other people, we must be willing to yield, share, and trust. Paul wanted the Galatians to see and learn from their differences, not to be blind to them. After all, a mosaic is much more descriptive and vibrant than a monochromatic canvas. Our differences strengthen and inform each other, and our beautiful willingness to come together makes us most like Christ.
Do not become color blind, but rather pursue the beauty of diversity.
Elizabeth Rhyno is a wife, mom, and pastor of relational arts at Waterline [Wesleyan] Church. Elizabeth chooses to pursue the Lord and lean into his heart for community.
© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
