Different by Design

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind; and God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:25).

It has often been said that variety is the spice of life; in other words, differences (variety) bring a great dynamism and goodness to life. The sovereign God in his unsearchable wisdom created different species of living things; and different individual organisms within species; and he saw that it was good. This is a call for us to value and cherish, rather than despise, the differences between people whether in terms of race, complexion, status, outlook and general approaches to life. By so doing we are more likely to derive the benefits of synergy instead of the losses from division.

During a recent Festival of Life event in London, Roy Crowne (Co-ordinator for HOPE, a Christian Charity) spoke about the “wonderful differences” inherent within the Church of Jesus Christ and the need to translate these differences into a variety of approaches for propagating the gospel in different ways to different people. It is our view that in order for this to happen as it ought, individual Christians must be proud and grateful to God for whom he has made them to be fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:14)

The notion of different by design also partly explains why any two people (husband and wife, for instance) can walk away from a conversation with completely different understandings of what was discussed; neither of them is crazy they are just different

We therefore pray for better understanding and unity in our homes, churches and communities; our differences notwithstanding.

God bless you

Pastors Marcus & Norah Chilaka