Many Members But One Body

Unity does not = Uniformity.
I am glad that I am different. Those of you who know me are probably rolling your eyes, "boy, is she ever!" No, I mean that I am glad that God has created me with a unique design and purpose. I have learned to be free to be me. I know that this sounds corny, but I have. There is no one else like me...or like you for that matter. Our personalities, circumstances and abilities are all specially designed by our Maker to fulfill the good work that He has created for each of us to do. Ephesians 2:10 "We are God's workmanship," (meaning work of art in the Greek)," created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do." I don't know about you but that makes me feel good about being me.
What concerns me though is that while most would agree with the above idea, many find themselves striving to be like someone else...or everybody else. Maybe you have felt the pressure to conform or you struggle to fit the "norm". You find yourself working "outside the program". Worse yet you felt ostracized because of it?
We even see these pressures even in our churches. You want to be like Sally special music, Glen gleeful greeter or even Sam Sunday school teacher. I love 1Corinthians 12. It says something like...if everybody were an eye who would do the hearing. And if everybody were an ear then who would do the smelling? It's my paraphrase...but you get the drift. Verse 18 says that God has "arranged the parts in the body, each one of them, just as he wanted them to be."
To quote one of my favorite Sunday school teachers," Because you are different, you will reach people for Christ that I will never reach. And I will reach others that you will never reach."
So I will continue to marvel (at times) and be quietly annoyed (at others) by how different we are, but I will choose to encourage you in your differences. I will do it out of respect for who God has made you and I will do it because we can't all be me. Now that is a scary thought!