God Over Our Differences

“She’s just really different from me,” I shrugged to my husband as we drove home. Conversation had turned from our kid’s friends to their parents. One mom, in particular, I felt especially disconnected from. Wherever I saw her, grocery store or school event, her outfit, hair, and makeup were complete, accompanied by a beautiful, white smile. I assumed her life was as perfect as her looks. 

Worse, I found myself judgmental, jealous of what I saw and justifying myself internally. Except I had no idea what really lay behind her smile.

As moms, comparison can be instinctive. We see clean hair or obedient children and hold that against realities of our own life. Maybe we rationalize our behavior, or we accept pressure and beliefs about not measuring up.

But opening God’s Word, we’re challenged with the idea that God delights in contrast, in creativity and variety. And we see an enemy who cares about destroying it all. 

How it starts

Genesis begins by teaching God creates everything. He is the author of the plants and animals that fill the land, sky, and sea. He establishes different lights to rule the day and night. And he makes man, forming him with his hands and breathing life into his body.[1] 

Like the various plants and animals, man is also diverse. People look different from each other, have different talents and passions, and live different lives. Some of us stay home, some work. Some have large platforms, some have small circles of influence. Some like vintage, some like modern. Either way, we all have value, beauty, talent, and purpose, and it all comes from God. What honor to reflect that beauty, and what a collective prism of glory we reflect together.  

But we also add value to each other with our differences. Paul challenges the church at Corinth, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?… God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose” (1 Corinthians 12:17-18). Each of our roles matter, because God always assigns purpose out of his perfect wisdom.

Behind the scenes

Reading beyond creation, we quickly see disaster. Man disobeys God. The creation is cursed, and the purpose man has is now weighted by difficulty. 

This still continues today. 

Regardless of what is perceived by outward appearance, all of our hearts, minds, and circumstances are impacted by sin and attacked by the enemy. We can be assured, this side of Heaven, nothing is perfect. All of us are plagued with suffering and inability to measure up, yet we’re all offered the same hope.

The Gift

On the cross, when Jesus cries out, “it is finished,” it’s because he was the perfect child, obedient to death under the perfect parent. We were all sinners. We had all failed. And while that was true of us, our compassionate Creator God still chose us, still purchased us and still credited us with his righteousness.

This is the glorious God we are to always keep our eyes on.

Motherhood is unbelievably consuming. More exists on our plates than is possible to ever attend to. Yet we try so hard to do it all and frequently find ourselves looking side-to-side to see our progress.

But the gift of the gospel is we can rest secure in our identity. God makes us each on purpose and for purpose. And he welcomes us into his kingdom with no regrets or opportunity for cancellation. We have nothing to prove. We are already accepted. 

And we are already God’s friend. We can bring him our struggles and insecurities. God is pleased to help, present within and among us. With him, we can learn to embrace differences, talents, and shortcomings, and operate as the collective body we were made to be. 

We celebrate gifting, knowing everything points to our Creator himself. Our God is so beautiful, so detailed, so majestic, nothing created in this temporary world could ever contain all of him. Instead, we image him in billions of different ways. 

The hope that awaits

A time will come when we will live in right relationship with each other, without temptation to judge or compare. But God will always be God. For now, we walk in step with our Savior, who secures our place at his table, in his kingdom. And we watch as he weaves our stories together in ways we could never imagine.

Some time after that drive with my husband, I signed up for a Bible study. And so did that mom. Week after week, I found myself in awe, listening to the mama I thought I had nothing in common with, share her heart and reveal how beautiful she is on the inside, as well. I saw her love for God, family, and community, and I learned of struggles I couldn’t see. I had been so wrong.

Maybe the irony of thinking I couldn’t relate was because God still had so much work to do in me. What a privilege to be corrected.

Whatever our circumstances, background, or passions, praise God for welcoming us into his family and into the opportunity to live in community with our brothers and sisters. Praise him for creating us differently and intentionally. And most of all, praise him for being the single storehouse of all the beauty and talent we experience. What a glorious God we serve. 

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[1] Genesis 1, Psalm 119:73, Genesis 2:7