United in love we celebrate our diversity
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
RESUMEN: God rejoices in diversity and the complexity of faith. The denominational syndrome should crumble under the force of love, and we should serve God as disciples with one identity: children of God. Although there will always be diversity, the essential thing is love. The gifts of the Spirit are fundamental for the life of the Church, but love endures and unites us all. We must think and act in the love of order that comes from the perfect Spirit of our Lord.
God rejoices in diversity, in the complexity of faith, in the thousand ways of worshiping him and communicating with him. The denominational syndrome crumbles under the force of love and the order with which he wants us to serve him as disciples. We have one identity, one single identity: Children of God. We are no longer slaves, nor masters, nor Jews, nor gentiles, nor engineers, doctors, nor doomsayers or dilettantes, nor amateurs or professionals. Our past changed when the Lord received us in his arms, we no longer have to look back with the shame of guilt thrown on your shoulders. When you look back just look at the cross of Christ, he died to change your past and give you a new future, an unparalleled gift that he offers by grace. It is the ineffable gift of salvation.
There will always be diversity and that is wonderful. Being unanimous in the Spirit does not necessarily mean that we have to think exactly the same. Even within the same congregation. The important thing is the order and priority that we give to Christ, our worldview centered on God and his saving son. Disorder can lead to debauchery and this to debauchery. The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and received the same power, but neither was like the other. Jeremiah was the “weeping” prophet, Isaiah the most prophetic, Zechariah the most messianic, all three were prophets of God and the three eras were diverse in character and ways of manifesting the power that was given to them by God to speak to his people.
The essential thing is love. The gifts of the Spirit are tools for the progress of the Kingdom and the gospel, they are fundamental for the life of the Church. A church where there are no manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit is simply not a New Testament church. God seeks, at the same time, men of character, who choose gifts but with love. It is love that endures, what will unite us all when everything is perfect and that endurance is what makes it “the greatest” (1 Cor 13.13). That is why that love, · ... the long-suffering, the benign, the one who does not envy, who is not boastful, who does not puff up, or does anything improper, or seeks his own, who is not irritated or holds a grudge, without enjoying in injustice, but in truth. The love that suffers everything, that believes everything and expects everything and supports everything is the only one, definitely the only one that never; it never ever ceases to be (2 Cor 13: 4-8). In that love we must think and act, because it is the love of order, the sublime and powerful love that comes from the perfect Spirit of our Lord.
God bless you!
Editorial note: If you want to deepen this reflection, we recommend that you study Pastor Roberto Miranda's sermon entitled " A diverse spirituality ".
There will always be diversity and that is wonderful. Being unanimous in the Spirit does not necessarily mean that we have to think exactly the same. Even within the same congregation. The important thing is the order and priority that we give to Christ, our worldview centered on God and his saving son. Disorder can lead to debauchery and this to debauchery. The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and received the same power, but neither was like the other. Jeremiah was the “weeping” prophet, Isaiah the most prophetic, Zechariah the most messianic, all three were prophets of God and the three eras were diverse in character and ways of manifesting the power that was given to them by God to speak to his people.
The essential thing is love. The gifts of the Spirit are tools for the progress of the Kingdom and the gospel, they are fundamental for the life of the Church. A church where there are no manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit is simply not a New Testament church. God seeks, at the same time, men of character, who choose gifts but with love. It is love that endures, what will unite us all when everything is perfect and that endurance is what makes it “the greatest” (1 Cor 13.13). That is why that love, · ... the long-suffering, the benign, the one who does not envy, who is not boastful, who does not puff up, or does anything improper, or seeks his own, who is not irritated or holds a grudge, without enjoying in injustice, but in truth. The love that suffers everything, that believes everything and expects everything and supports everything is the only one, definitely the only one that never; it never ever ceases to be (2 Cor 13: 4-8). In that love we must think and act, because it is the love of order, the sublime and powerful love that comes from the perfect Spirit of our Lord.
God bless you!
Editorial note: If you want to deepen this reflection, we recommend that you study Pastor Roberto Miranda's sermon entitled " A diverse spirituality ".
