Morning Thoughts: What's that Smell?

This morning I'm reflecting on some comments I've heard in church meetings about diversity, namely, that it's largely beside the point.

You know the kind of thing I mean: 

I try to focus on the things that make us the same instead of the things that make us different. We all have the same identity as children of God, so I don't even see the differences. It doesn't matter to me what a person looks like or where they come from, because we're all the same on the inside. 

Like that. 

But in the words of Paul, "If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?" 

The problem with this philosophy is twofold: by refusing to see and even focus to an extent on what makes us different, we fail to acknowledge each other's diverse roles as members of the body of Christ, and we also pass over the key to discerning (or even observing)  each other's unique needs. We fail at righteous dominion and ministry, respectively. It's not the outright rejection of the eye saying to the hand "I have no need of you." It's all the members giving thanks to God for such a glorious congregation of eyes by which to see so clearly. The vision becomes obstructed, and the possibility of any kind of work beyond seeing is ruled right out. 

Anyway, that's what I'm thinking about this morning.