Let Your Light ShineSample

Calling > Conforming

Truth #3: Diversity is not a problem but an asset.

In the world we live in conformity is the law. Everybody is expected to look the same, be the same, act the same, have the same opinions, and wear the same clothes. Standing out from the crowd or going against the flow is punished by cancellation. In a season of insecurity, when you are desperately seeking identity, the easiest route is simply to be a clone of everyone else.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” – Romans 12:2, MEV

As Christians, we can never allow ourselves to be infected by this mindset. In the kingdom of God diversity is not a problem but an absolute necessity. No one of us can display the fullness of God on our own. No single person, church, or movement carries in itself the ability to reflect to the world the greatness and diversity that is found in Him. He is simply too great, too amazing.

This is exactly why we, as the church, are portrayed and described as one body with many different parts rather than as many independent individuals:

"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don’t need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don’t need you!' …Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." — 1 Corinthians 12:12–21, 27

How I love this revelation! And how totally contrary it is to the way of this world, which dictates that everyone should be the same. The kingdom of God is the complete opposite, a kingdom where diversity is celebrated as absolutely essential.

We are called to complete, not to compete.

And as we all shine our individual, unique lights in our individual, unique worlds, all of them will blend together into one amazing beam of light for the world to see. The result: one and the same light but filled with all the various spectrums and nuances needed to display the greatness, glory, and diversity of our God. This has always been the main vision, passion, and desire of my ministry: inspiring believers to shine their lights boldly in their world and never excuse or exclude themselves because their lights don’t look exactly like someone else’s.

Want to learn more about your unique light? Take the quiz today: https://charisma-media.involve.me/shine-your-light