“How Do You Tie Your Shoes?”

“How do you tie your shoes?” That’s one of those questions that you can go through your entire adult life and never be asked, unless it’s by your child. So I’ll ask again, “How do you tie your shoes?”

          I personally interlace them once, form a loop with my left hand and using my right hand track around the left loop pulling the shoe string through the track to make a second loop, then pull on both loops to tighten. That’s the only correct way, right? Wrong of course!

          Some people do the same, but form the loop on the right side and go around. Others form two loops and then interlace them. There are those that double knot and if they have long laces and high-top shoes they sometimes take the laces all the way around the ankle and around to the front before tying.

          Of course some wear their shoes with the laces completely removed. Add to this buckles, Velcro, straps, snaps, buttons and shoes with no fasteners at all like loafers, boots and house shoes.

          The point is that each method is correct in its own way. No one method is the right or wrong way. It depends on the person, shoe and situation. In fact, the kind of shoes I wear determines my method of keeping them on my feet.

          When it comes to church life, not everyone fastens their shoes the same way. Everyone walks with a different pair, some alike or similar and some completely different.

          Not everyone likes how things are done at “church”. In worship there are different likes with the songs we choose or on the style of lesson presented. One person likes one Bible class teacher and the next person may not can sit through the class, but likes someone else. Some folks like a deep Bible study class, while others want something that just helps them get through a specific struggle in life. There are those who agree with whatever the elders say and will follow them anywhere, while others will seek more explanation before they make a move.

          Some people like an early service, others a late one. Some like a service like a worship assembly and others prefer small groups. Some like to sit in a lecture class, while others want to class with lots of discussion. Some like doing things different and always changing the way things are done and others prefer the traditional ways.

          For the vast majority of what takes place in a congregation there is no right or wrong way in the eyes of God. In fact, there are far more correct ways of doing things since most of those things that may be wrong aren’t even mentioned to begin with.

          So how do you make everyone happy? Do you try to make them all “tie their shoes” the same way? It really boils down to helping each other understand that we are all different with different likes and dislikes on how and what we do.

          Unity does not mean that everyone has to think the same way or like the same things. Unity does not mean we have the same interests and needs. Unity is understanding that everyone ties their shoes differently and as long as their shoes don’t fall off, how they are fastened doesn’t really matter.

          Being unified means to teach and lead others toward the one goal that we all have, which is bring others to Jesus. How we get there is not nearly as important as getting there. Let’s not forget we live in a lost world that needs people to lead them into a closer relationship with God.

          It’s not how we tie our shoes that matters. It’s how we walk once we have them on, fastened and are standing up.

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“We continually ask God to fill you with knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you will walk in a manner worth of the Lord.”

Colossians 1:9-10