Why are people different from one another?


Rich vs. poor. Israeli vs. Palestinian. Girls vs. boys. Wouldn’t the world run much more easily if people were alike?

Wrong, says Michael, age 7. God made us different from one another so “He wouldn’t be bored.” Or, to put it another way, “God likes to see different faces,” says Kallan, 7.

Kids Talk About God
“The world would be so plain if everyone was the same,” says Amanda, 10. In fact, “it would be a world full of mirrors,” where “Mom might take home the wrong kid,” say Mallory, 11, and Ashley, 6.

Being different from each other is “like our ID” so “we won’t get lost,” say Alex, 8, and Kristin, 6.

OK, so God spared moms the confusion of trying to distinguish between identical kids, except in the case of twins. But what if we all wanted to do the same kind of work? “We have to have people who want to do all sorts of things and work at different jobs,” says Leslie, 12. “Little odd jobs are very important.”

Does that include emptying the trash and making your bed? If everyone were the same, “everyone would have the same habits, and it’d be miserable,” says Alex, 10.

Can you imagine a world where everyone was a newspaper columnist? There would be no editors! Someone once said that editors have the important job of separating the wheat from the chaff and making sure the chaff gets printed.

God wanted variety, says Nicole, 9, “because it is much more fun this way, and God knows that.” God wanted “to show His ability to be creative” by “making every color,” say Andy, 12, and Perry, 10.

Colour? Check out Revelation 4 and 5, where the Apostle John describes Jesus Christ in heaven with “a rainbow around the throne.” The redeemed ones before the throne are “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”

God’s glory is so great that we need various ways to praise him. What kind of sound would an orchestra make if every member played a trumpet? To produce a beautiful, harmonious sound, individual orchestra members must unite their diverse talents and instruments under the direction of a skilled conductor. The love of God unites all Christians because love transcends national, cultural, economic and racial differences.

On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed for the unity of future believers: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:22-23).

Why did God make us different? To unite us in a glorious symphony with His Son, who has always been in perfect harmony with His Father. For Jeremy, 11, God is the great conductor who “made us different so there would be different kinds of worship.”

Let’s pay attention to our conductor. God wants you to join in the heavenly symphony.

Think about this: God makes us one in his Son.

Remember this truth: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit,” (I Corinthians 12:13).

Question to consider: Is there something I need to change in my attitude or actions to experience the reality of being a unique person in the body of Christ unified by God’s Spirit?

“Kids Talk About God” is written and distributed by Carey Kinsolving. To access free, online “Kids Color Me Bible” books, “Mission Explorers” videos, a new children’s musical, and all columns in a Bible Lesson Archive, visit www.KidsTalkAboutGod.org.

©2018 Carey Kinsolving