“When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” Acts 8:15-17

Lord Jesus, This is a lesson I must continue to learn my whole life long. I continue to see people as better than I am, that they are more advanced in their Christianity, and that I am separated from them because of how they have grown in their walk of faith. I also continue to see people as those who have a long way to go and, in pride, I look down on them. In my heart I do make distinctions between people in the way that I view them and, sometimes, even in the way that I treat them. Oh, dear Jesus, forgive me. You have not viewed nor treated me the way that I view or treat others. You have poured out on me the same mercy, the same forgiveness, the same gifts, and the same citizenship, that you pour out on all your children. You have given me gifts that make us all the same. Now, Jesus, I pray. Give me your Holy Spirit to transform my eyes and my heart so that I see people the way that you see people. Give me your Spirit to transform me so that I joyfully rejoice in this body that you have gathered together into your body, the church. Amen.

We are all the same no matter who we are, where we are, when we are. That’s the beauty of the body of Christ. There is unity within our diversity. We are all the same, in need of mercy. We are all the same, in receipt of mercy. We are all the same, in our citizenship in God’s kingdom. We are all the same, in the gifts that we receive from our God. We are all the same, with one mission to go to all the world.