Tuesday, December 12, 2017

God loves diversity

Submitted by Caleb Lain – North Side Baptist Church

Over the next 40 days, the devotionals will be from individuals who give of their time and resources to travel to, or to live in areas where they are not known and know no one, just to serve others in the name of Christ.  The individual and personal stories in these devotionals will give you an insight into how God moves people into service.  Many of these devotionals are written by your friends and family here at North Side or by our mission partners.  These devotionals are designed to help us focus on Christ and the calling He has given all of us – the calling to love, serve, and make disciples.  These 40 daily readings will end the week of our 2018 Mission Conference.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  Revelation 7:9-10

I’ve been blessed to travel to several different countries on five different continents in my lifetime. One of the most exciting things about traveling to distant lands is to see the differences in culture. One thing that I’ve learned is that God has made each people group distinct and He moves among all of them. He loves diversity!  He has created us to be different and when we get to Heaven we will still be different. I believe when we get to Heaven we will be able to understand one another perfectly, but, as we see in this scripture, our languages will still be different.

What moves me most when I travel to different countries is the similarity among Believers – that we exalt the risen Christ. We are the One, global Church united in our belief that Jesus is Lord.

We know that our country and world is becoming increasingly diverse. As we see people from other nations and cultures around us, let’s remember that God loves them, that God loves diversity. And that one day people from EVERY nation, tribe, people and language will stand before the throne and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Lord, this season I pray that I when I come in contact with someone from a different culture or language, that I would see them as You do and long for the day when people from every culture and language will surround your throne and worship You.  

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