There’s a phrase I’ve heard all over Southeast Asia that I love: “Same, same, but different.” You say it when you were expecting something to be the same, but it’s slightly different. Or when you were expecting something to be different, but it’s almost the same.
Doesn’t that describe most of us? In our culture, there are two opposite forces pushing us in two opposite directions. There’s one force pushing me to be unique. I need to figure out who I really am, and do everything I can to truly be that person. I’m different from everybody else, so nobody else can tell me who I am or who I should be. Only I can know for sure. So I need to search deep within my heart and celebrate my uniqueness.
And I believe it to some degree, which is why I don’t really listen to the radio anymore. I have my own playlist with my own music that matches my own taste. Also, I don’t read the newspaper anymore. I have my own news feed that only tells me about the things I’m interested in. At least, that’s the theory. Somehow, I still know that Justin Bieber got arrested for the 87th time last week. I really didn’t want to know that. I want my unique news tailored to my unique tastes.
On the other side, there’s a force pushing me to be the same. When I’m driving down the street, and I see a big crowd of people around some restaurant, it’s usually because some chain from the mainland finally opened a restaurant here. People in Iowa and Wisconsin and Georgia have been eating at this place for years, and now I finally get to be like them. I want to be the same. When I go to Starbucks and order a Caramel Macchiato, I’m expecting it to be the same as a Caramel Macchiato in Seattle, Stockholm, or Saigon. When I buy a shirt at Costco, it comes from a pile of 1,000 items that look exactly like the thing I just bought.
These two opposing forces are constantly pushing us: uniqueness and sameness. Will I be different, or will I be the same?
Paul has a few thoughts on the topic. Look at what he says:
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. As in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ. (Rom 12:3-5)
Paul’s telling me that God made me to be unique: “the members do not all have the same function.” I’m different from everyone else! But I’m also the same: I was made to be part of this “one body.”
What body is that? Not a social club, or a volunteer organization, or a study group. It’s one body in Christ.
And that’s the reason why Paul says I shouldn’t think of myself more highly than I ought to think. I wasn’t made to be unique so I could express myself. And I wasn’t made to be the same so I would always have the right to do and experience what everyone else does and experiences. God made me with uniqueness and sameness so I could bring glory to Christ!
This is how I fulfill Paul’s command a few verses earlier: “I appeal to you by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1). I need to glorify God by being a living sacrifice, but I can’t do that by myself. I need to be in a community of people, all of them uniquely designed with different gifts, interests, and personalities, but all with the same mission of bringing glory to Christ.
Same, same, but different.