Most of us hang around people who look like us, think like us, and share the same beliefs as we do. Being charged with furthering Jesus’s mission to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth, I find it difficult to believe Heaven looks like our homogeneous gatherings. No, I think Heaven is the most diverse and eclectic bunch of people we can imagine. If that’s true, why don’t we strive to surround ourselves with similar gatherings now?
This life is our only chance to prepare for our eternal one. We may as well practice now. Paul encourages us in Romans 15:7 to accept others just as Christ accepted us. Jesus takes us as we are. We should also accept others as they are without demanding they become like us. God loves them just as they are, and so should we.