God Made Us Different...on Purpose!
Bible Readings
Take a few minutes to read the Bible verses listed and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in how this verse applies to you this week.
1 On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place. 2 Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. 3 Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. 4 The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak. 5 Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. 6 And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. 7 They were excited and amazed, and said: Don't all these who are speaking come from Galilee? 8 Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? 9 Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, 11 Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.
Acts 2:1-11
Memory Verse
Revelation 7:9-10
9 After this, I saw a large crowd with more people than could be counted. They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands, 10 as they shouted, “Our God, who sits upon the throne, has the power to save his people, and so does the Lamb.”
How many languages do you speak? Most of us speak only one. Many people speak two languages, and some people speak many languages. There are many languages from around the world! Our languages show one way that we are different. But there are a lot of other ways we are different from one another. People have different heights, weights, skin colors, hair styles, abilities, and more.
Sometimes we might feel tempted to avoid people who are different from us. We tend to choose friends who like the same things we do. But we quickly find out that no one is just like us. We have to learn that our differences make the world more interesting. People who are different from us can teach us to love better. We should thank God for people who are different from us.
The Bible tells us that each of us—differences and all—is created in the image of God. From the beginning to the end, the Bible tells us that God wants to save all kinds of people. We can see God calling many nations and languages together in both Acts 2 and Revelation 7! God does not erase our differences; God loves our differences. And—because we’re all made in God’s image—God wants us to love one another and to grow together with all our differences.
Prayer
Creator God, thank you for creating us to be different and each in your own image. Help us to enjoy our differences and to see you in each person we meet. Amen.Related Resources
Anthony Peterson
Anthony Peterson loves to talk about people differences. He serves in Nashville, Tennessee, where he lives with his wife, Laura. They love four children and twelve grandchildren.