The Christian life is the presence of Christ in the believer. It is not the denomination and name that is on the door of the particular church that a believer goes to. The Believers of Christ , as part of the many tribes and flavors and rich colors that is found within Churchdom, all belong to His One Kingdom,and as believers our primary focus is and should always be Christ . It is His Spirit that enables and empowers all Believers to spread the fragrance of His Love to others through each and every diverse life as Children of the Living God. What makes us all ONE is that we are all in the family of God by His Spirit which is within each of us, who believes.
Believers will be likeminded inasmuch as they will seek to reach similar goals, but they will not each seek those goals in the same way, and they may not always agree as to how a particular goal can best be reached. And that is OK. I believe the diversity in this world is here for a reason, and that is to teach us the lesson of love and tolerance and acceptance of each of us for our differences and to understand that through our diversity we are basically the same it is only our covering that is different.
It is not a problem that there are so many churches and denominations, they are indeed a good thing. What it indicates is that in Christ there is a one size , that does fits all, but each of us wears Christ differently. We are all different , it is like 2 people that wears the same color and style shirt but it looks and wears differently on them . We all come in different shapes and sizes. There is one Lord, but many tribes, and flavors with Christ being the distinctive base flavor for us all and each has a unique style, sound, and look. We all process things differently which is colored and flavored by our differences of environment, social, economic and education levels, personal hystory , health, genes, diet,culture, physical make up and the list can go on and on.Yes Christ is our head, our mind, but the body dynamic is different and therefore what the Mind of Christ does in one place will be different in another but the foundation and ethics and moral behavior will be the same. We may respond differently in any given situation but it will always and should always be through the bond of love and peacemaking that is Christ Spirit within each one.
It should also be remembered that the minds of different believers are not to be pressed into a single mold of thinking--this is not what is meant by being "likeminded" (Phil. 2:2). To be like minded is that Christ is our focus, our lives should be centered and ground in Him and all our responses in each of our different lives will be flavored and colored, and enhanced by the Peace and Love of Christ within each of our different lives.
It is indeed a good thing to have different forms of expression, different ways of worship , and thanksgiving, some loud, some quiet, some vocal, some silent, some dancing and clapping, some reverent and calm. Each of us are so different and that is a wonderful and beautiful blessing, some of us are introvert others extrovert, and the rest of us falls in between. Thankfully God has designed us this way because as nature shows us ,God indeed loves diversity, and colors, and different fragrances. Our God is not a boring God who wants everything done the same way and every person wears the same clothes, but God has shown us through the various races, various animals, and insects, and different birds and fishes in the seas that our God is a God of diversity! Out God loves different flavors, and as long as we live as peace makers, and flavor all our acts through Love, we can indeed overcome all that we will encounter as long as we do all through the Spirit of love in service of Christ . We all are a different color and fabric on a patch work quilt , all adding to the creation of a master piece, that requires each of us to be a part of the big design, without our particular patch of color of fabric, it would not be what it is. Christ covers us all with his blanket /quilt of love. May we all be knit and held together with the bonds of peace and love to give warmth to a cold hurting world.
warm blessings in Christ
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