Dangerous Differences
By Elin Henderson
“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
1 Corinthians 1:10 (NKJV)
As much as there is beauty and variety in difference, there is also a lot of danger involved with it. We know that God loves variety; His creation shows this in all its unique aspects. Everyone is aware that life would be dull and listless if there were no differences in color, taste, smell, gifting, personality, etc. No one would disagree that we need diversity, yet at the same time, it is our differences that often cause us problems. The things that should unite us to work together and complement each other, can often turn into sandpaper that grinds us and tears us apart.By Elin Henderson
“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
1 Corinthians 1:10 (NKJV)
Poor Paul had quite a chore on his hands straightening out some serious problems in the Corinthian church. Major differences had crept in and were wreaking havoc among the people there. If you read down further in chapter one of 1 Corinthians, you see that they were having a hard time deciding who they belonged to…Paul, Apollos, Christ, and so on. Instead of allowing this to make them more useful and reach out to a variety of people, it became a huge point of contention. Isn’t it like the enemy to use something beautiful of God’s to cause dissention and destruction?
Paul pleads with the Corinthians that they not allow this God-given diversity to tear them apart, but that they would be joined together with the same mind and same judgment. He doesn’t say that they all have to have the same ministry or approach to ministry, nor the same gift or approach to using their gifts. Rather, that there be no division among them. This frees them up to be all God wants them to be, while also causing them to depend on their fellow believers to complete and complement them.
It isn’t hard to draw a current application from this problem 2000 years ago in the Corinthian church, is it? So many believers are torn apart rather than united in their differences, and serious damage is done. Rather than considering our differences as dangerous and destructive, let’s look at them as delightful, and sources for dependence…on the Lord and on each other.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Check out 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 for a follow up of Paul’s original “plea” here in 1 Corinthians 1:10.
2. What application do you see in your own life with fellow believers?
FURTHER READING:
Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 4:3, 14, 16
Oakwood’s missionaries Elin Henderson and her husband Phil serve as church planters with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa. Elin is mother to ten-year-old Callie and seven-year-old Elias.
