What's That Strange Ticking?? ... (Short Version)

Ever wonder why some people are ... strange? Why they can't just behave like ... US “normal people”?? The truth is that for many people the very definition of "strange" is "not like me".

However it really has nothing to do with strange ("them") versus normal ("us"). BUT everything to do with "what makes us tick". And what makes us tick makes us neither strange nor normal, it makes us ... UNIQUE! What makes me "tick" is an ONGOING lifetime of experiences, opportunities, frustrations, relationships, health and illness, ability and disability, etc. If you have a spare lifetime to share I might be able to explain it all. In the meantime I just ask you accept that what makes me "tick" is not likely to bear too much resemblance to what makes you "tick". BUT it is what makes me "me" and you "you", and not just robotic clones.

We sometimes have trouble getting our head around the idea of "uniqueness". Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12 makes it clear being a Christian is not about everybody being the same, but being of the same body, because even back then many could not quite grasp the concept that when you bind something that is unique (each of us) with something that is the same (the ONE Holy Spirit) you don't get something that is the same, you still get something that is unique. Each indwelling of the Holy Spirit produces, not a clone of itself, but a unique combination of man and God. The diversity of man united by the sameness of the Lord. Diverse as ever in function and purpose and a myriad other ways, but bound by a common membership of one body and one Spirit.

But what is the “it” factor that enables people from all over the world and throughout history, of diverse cultures, socio-economic groups, abilities (and disabilities), personalities, interests, idiosyncrasies and eccentricities, etc. to not only join together, worship together, and work together, but also to share life together and be of one accord? What is the “it” factor that makes the body of Christ tick?

It is this:-

Greater is He that unites us than the differences that seek to divide us.

D.J. Ludlow

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D.J. Ludlow copyright 2015

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