Why sameness is counterproductive
As of late, I've seen topics about sameness on social media. We cannot arrive at justice in our country by advocating for sameness.
Sameness means that we lack variety, uniformity, or monotony. In the New Testament, sameness is contrary to the nature of God. When you look at the Godhead, there is not a sense of sameness. What we do see in the Godhead is oneness, and oneness by definition is the state of standing unified. That is what the New Testament advocates.
When you look at the prayer of Jesus in john 17, Jesus advocated for oneness. In fact, one of the things he prayed for was that the New Testament church would be one. Jesus never advised his church to be the same. But he did encourage the church to be one.
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
John 17:20-23
The will of God is unity. We should honor what we have in common and use that as an opportunity to build one another up. The other side of that equation is not only looking at what we have in common, but what we don't have in common. What we don't have in common by definition is diversity.
We often would rather refrain from looking at diversity so we don't disrupt the status quo. The problem with that is that we end up missing out on the process of becoming one. Becoming one is an intentional appreciation of difference.
When we appreciate our differences, we are less likely to persuade one another to be the same. Sameness produces cliques. Sameness creates segregation. Sameness elevates cancel culture.
As I look at my hand. I have five fingers. None of my fingers are the same. None of my fingers are identical. God did not design my hand to have five fingers that are the same. Each one of my fingers has a different function, but together they are one.
Jesus tells us to model our lives after God. He Himself created diversity, and it's in our diversity that we can learn from one another. As we learn from one another, we can model before a divided country the heart of God.
 | Myron is the most unlikely leader in his region. At the age 18 he stood before a judge while facing 200 years in prison due to his life of gang banging, drugs and crime. However, he has now authored several books, launched a host of churches and a few businesses. He is now the Lead Pastor of Mission Church, a grassroots inner city mission with a dream to saturate every inner city with diverse Hope filled churches. He and his wife, Kristin, live in the heart of North Omaha with their three sons and daughter. |
More on Diversity
- Why does the term "social justice" divide so many? (by Chris Bolinger)
- The power of unity: a testament to prayer, worship, and God's Word (by Christopher Beth)
- Being comfortable being different (by Jenni Catron)
- A 3-pronged response to the lawlessness of our age (by Rob Streetman)
