Snapshots: Work WithinSample

Different, Not Wrong

Early in our marriage, my wife and I had an interesting conversation about tomatoes.

We had just come home from work, and I asked if she needed help with dinner. She smiled and said, “You can take care of the salad.” My kitchen experience was limited, but I figured I could not mess up a salad.

I rinsed the vegetables and started prepping. But when I got to the tomatoes and began slicing, she looked over and said, “You’re doing it wrong.”

I froze. I looked down and did not see the issue. “What are you talking about?”

She came over and said, “That’s not how you cut a tomato,” and showed me her way.

I smiled and said, “Just because I don’t cut the tomato like you doesn’t mean I’m doing it wrong.”

We both paused… and laughed. But that phrase stuck.

Just because something is different does not mean it is wrong.

God created each of us uniquely with different ways of thinking, working, and communicating. Our differences are not a defect. They are part of His design.

In marriage, ministry, and life, we will constantly encounter people who do things differently from us. Unity does not mean uniformity. It means choosing to value one another, even when we would not do it the same way.

Most of the tension we feel with others is not about right or wrong. It is about learning to understand.

Ephesians 4:2 says, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

It takes humility to say, “Your way is different, and that is okay.”

There is more than one way to cut a tomato and more than one way to walk in love.

Pause: Have you been frustrated with someone just because they do things differently from you?

Plan: Choose grace over control. Celebrate someone’s uniqueness instead of correcting it.

Pray: God, teach me to walk in unity, not uniformity. Help me love others well, even when we do not see things the same.