Unity, not conformity

I feel I need to preface this blog post. I'm not sure if what I'm saying is right, but it's something I'm working on and I'm hoping that I can get a little feedback in some way to wrestle out the kinks and see if there's any credence to my claims. It's a little long, so bear with me.

Lately I've very slowly been reading through Romans. Paul, in chapter 14, talks about the issue of personal conscience of believers. He gives the example of two people; one who eats meat and another who only eats vegetables. The command he gives is that the one who feels free to eat meat is not to look down on the one whose conscience forbids it and the one who eats only vegetables not to judge the ones who are comfortable eating meat. His point it that there's nothing wrong with meat or anything God has created but a man should follow his own conscience. If I'm okay with drinking beer, I shouldn't look down on someone who thinks it's wrong and think that they're not as spiritual as I am and they are commanded not to look on me as a drunken sinner and condemn me on an issue of personal conscience.

I think the whole point Paul is making in this chapter is that God wants unity among believers. But, so often we misconstrued this and begin thinking that we're all supposed to believe the same things. But God is so unique and creative. As His image bearers we also hold those qualities. God doesn't want us all to look, think and act the same. And, in this vein, I don't think He reveals who He is to us all in the same way. I'm thinking that maybe the reason so many people have a hard time seeing God working in their life is because they're looking for Him to do it the same way He's done it in their pastor's or their friends' lives. God speaks to everyone in different ways.

I'm sure that Paul knew this. He knew that He couldn't approach gentiles in the same way He approached Jews with Christ. When the Apostles preached Christ to the Jews they heavily used scripture and Old Testament prophecy to show that it was Christ that the Old Testament was talking about all along. But that wouldn't work with gentiles. God would speak to them in a different way. The Bible is still necessary, but Paul has to use different methods to bring them to it. Such as in Acts 17 when he uses their own pagan gods and literature to teach them about Jesus.

And even after they understood what he was teaching them about God, there's no way they saw God in the same way that the Jews saw Him; as their deliverer that they had followed for the entirety of their existence.

God speaks to people so differently. I've talked to my friend Brandon and he's told me that God really speaks to him while he's working out. I think that's awesome, but that just never happens to me. I usually have trouble enough remember what lap I'm on to really be able to have spiritual moments. All that usually goes through my head when I'm working out is, "She's seventy-five! How did she lap me again?"

But I've found that one of the major ways that God speaks to me is through reading. I can read practically anything and God will speak to me through it. I've even found that God likes to show off by speaking through atheist authors more so that Christian ones.

But my point is this. We, as believers, don't have to agree on everything. In fact, we really only have to agree on one thing, and that is our view of who Jesus is. God wants His followers to rally around Jesus and not make gods out of stupid issues that don't warrant more of our time than telling others about Jesus. If we just seek after the way that God speaks to us, then everything else just sort of comes with that. I think that He's blessed everyone with a unique way to hear Him. We need to use that blessing to lift up and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ, not argue over pointless things while the world goes to hell. God demands unity, not conformity.