Celebrating Diversity

 Last Saturday, like millions of others, my wife and I sat back and watched the Kentucky Derby, an American tradition. Simone Biles, the Olympic gymnast gave the call, “Riders Up!”  The top thoroughbreds in the world pranced onto the track.  Everyone sang, “My Old Kentucky Home,” including my wife.  They introduced the jockeys that would vie for the coveted prize. And there it was, right in the middle of the Kentucky Derby, “diversity!”  Three of the jockeys were from the U.S., 2 from Brazil, 2 from Venezuela, 3 from Puerto Rico, 1 from Mexico, 3 from France, 1 from Italy, 1 from the Dominican Republic and 1 from Panama.

 It is true in every sport: baseball, tennis, golf, basketball.  Diverse people from any and every nationality and ethnicity excel in every area of life. The major cities of the world are cosmopolitan. More than 90 languages are spoken in Houston.  In Dallas, every ethnicity is a minority, including Anglo.

 When I was pastor of an English-speaking church in Nuremberg, Germany, the church was composed of people from Germany, Ireland, England, Romania, Ukraine, China, Cameroon, India, Sweden, Austria and others. Most were in their twenties and thirties. After we returned to the U.S., we hosted a Bible study for grad students in our home.  They came from South Africa, Indonesia, China, the Czech Republic, Japan, Hong Kong and Zambia. They became like family to us.

 God must like diversity.  There is so much of it.  If we all looked alike, spoke alike and thought alike, it would be a boring and shallow world. God has splashed His creation with rich and wondrous diversity, from the fish of the sea and the stars in the heavens to the people of the earth.

 Why is it, then, that we are so prone to make other people conform to our own way of life?   Why do we feel it necessary to argue until others adopt our point of view? Why do we want them to dress like us, look like us and talk like us?   What should a Christian look like? 

 It seems to me that most Christians think others should look like they look. But they don’t.  I am reminded of a visit I made several years ago to the Harley Davidson Factory in Kansas City.  A young man stood up to address the group and introduced himself as a disciple of Jesus Christ disguised as an executive at Harley Davidson. Disciples of Jesus Christ come disguised in the clothing and customs of every culture on the globe. 

 When we flip through the pages of the Bible to the final book, we find a description of the ultimate consummation of creation.  “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,” (Revelation 7:9).

Tinsley's eBook We Beheld His Glory is free on Amazon May 6-7..