When You Wonder WhySample

The Beauty of Humanity

The story of the Bible closes with a vision of God’s kingdom on earth. At the end of time, history’s completion is illustrated as a gathering filled with people of every ethnicity, language and nation, singing together in a beautiful chorus of praise to God. What a beautiful picture!

God’s heart is that we, with our unique histories and cultures, languages and perspectives, would live in unity with one another, working to reflect the perfect love of God. He created us differently, and we each image his character in a unique way. When we come together and love one another well, we are reflecting God and his perfect relationship with himself as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is beauty in our differences, and it’s meant to be that way. Our differences make loving others well a reflection of the character of God.

God’s heart is for unity, not uniformity.

This idea is nice, but it doesn’t often translate into reality. We live in a world that counts differences as opportunities for division. We’re hardwired in our sinful nature to have an us versus them mentality, and we often devalue people who look, sound and act differently than us.

Instead of a beautiful song of praise filled with the voices of a diverse choir, we hear clamor as every individual and group sing their own tune.

Sometimes, this noise seems inescapable, but there’s good news! Jesus has shown us another way—the way of God’s kingdom, the truth of God’s reconciling redemption and the life of God’s multiethnic family. Revelation’s vision of people from every nation and ethnicity coming together to worship God isn’t something we just wait for Jesus to accomplish. As his followers, we are called to align our lives with the radical vision of God’s kingdom coming to earth.

Christians are people who believe that everyone is made in God’s image and therefore has infinite value. But that isn’t enough. We have to actually live out what we believe. What does this look like in your life?