Their own recieved them not.....

John 1:11 - He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (NIV) 

Came to my own, and my own received me not. But we wonder why, we don’t accept diversity in the body of Christ; it should not be a surprise. The question is – Why not? Is it because it was not part of what we know, understand, or have a frame of reference to comprehend? So, we discount it because it is different, instead of seeking God out for directions.  We seek consensus from man. Although man is the author of contradictions, confusion, disorder, and God is not the author of confusion and does everything in a divine order. However, because it does not fit in our limited concrete constructs, and the looming nebulous of authenticity we hold fast too, we shy away from it, or downright reject it. The investment of time that would usually result from our being open to it, is not forthcoming; we elect to ostracize instead. We fail to see how our choices; decisions made today have far reaching effects upon generations we shall never see, with consequences we cannot comprehend; just as our forefathers and mothers did. Souls are touched and changes in the butterfly effect of life, base on one choice made today.  Yet, we do not even consider the consequences of our choice, as we refuse to accept one of our own.  We forget just how powerful speech is. It can stir people to act, not act, to fall, move to tears of both sorrow or joy, and more importantly, inflict great pain that scars another for a lifetime, even after we are long gone in the body. 

Just because a difference, and that is their truth, and their authentic self lies there; we say, go away.  We refuse to accept them as legitimate or aligning with the word of God, even though they are living their truth.  Even though, we do not always align with the word of God, and we pick-n-choose when and what we will apply to our life. While holding steadfast to a standard of accountability for others, but we do not adhere to in this life. It is as if Christians have chosen as a mantra -  do what I say but not what I do. The irony is we would not accept the contradictory mindset from anyone. What a tangled weave of light and dark we create as we do not own, our own.  Mark Twain once said, - You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. This I believe is the reason we do not receive our own because our faith focus,only encompasses the comfortable, familiar, usual, traditional, or what works for us. The sad thing is if Christ came back today, many of us religious folk would not accept Him either…smile…John 10:16 - I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.(NIV) For the course of paradigm shift, transformative move of His grace presence, come through and lies in the difference, not the similarities...