When I was growing up in Limerick, small town, Maine the diversity of the people around me was basically limited to which side of my family they were each related to me on. When I got older and moved to the west, I was catapulted into a world full of diversity. Eventually, I even worked for a Japanese based firm and traveled to other countries. There, I was the diversity.
This world is full of so many different types of people. The diversity in people is only limited by their numbers. The prevalence of diversity within the members of the Body of Christ is simply because it is made up of people from the general population of the world. This is what the Bible has to say in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 – There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but the same God who works all in all.
Miraculously, within that diversity, God calls us to be like minded. Romans 15:5-6 – Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:2 – fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
God commands us to be like-minded. Being like-minded requires that each of us look for ways and opportunities to become like-minded by our actions. It doesn’t do us any good to become like-minded if we don’t act like-minded. The point of the like-mindedness is to act and care for one another in that like-mindedness, or maybe better stated: like-mindedness is the condition of accepting our diversity while still caring for one another in unity. If we accomplished that, we would create like-mindedness within our diversity that loves and serves as Christ loves and serves.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14 – For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all Baptized into one Body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the Body is not one member but many. Perhaps we are getting off track in our conceptions of like-mindedness by thinking that like-mindedness should mean that we all see and do things exactly the same. However, that would deny the truth of the scripture that told us that there are diversities of gifts, differences of ministries and diversities of activities.
The directive by God is not that we should all become exactly the same, but that we should become like-minded in diversity. Maybe we should think of it as “God-minded” and become focused on God and the things of God in our diversity. The problems of mankind are not about whether or not we’re different. We are diverse and God expects the diversity that He programmed into mankind. He expects us to be different, with different views, but to relate to one another, embrace one another and work together within our diversity. What better time of year to meet this challenge than in the middle of the Holiday Season. After all this is the season that is meant to encourage peace on earth and good will toward men. Why not let it bring peace and unity to the diversity of mankind, including the diversity of the Body of Christ. Blessings!

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