Richard Ritenbaugh, citing Mark Twain's aphorism, "The art of prophecy is difficult, especially with respect to the future," points out that there are too many variables for any human to predict accurately. We can be thankful that God's prognostications and prophecies are totally trustworthy, many of which have already come to pass. God is a forecaster extraordinaire. Prophecy is the ability to forecast an event in advance. Many predictions are quite probable with regard to general predictions, but the more qualifiers and variables we add, the less probability the prophecy will work out. Some futurists, like H. G. Wells, have been successful in their prognostications, although many turned out to be duds. We should gaze forward, anticipating what God will reveal to us, becoming "nostalgic about the future," and not wistfully looking back, lingering or dallying, as did Lot and his family. By looking back, Lot's wife was boldly repudiating the will of God. Once we have made the commitment to follow God, to recount the cost would be suicidal. God has to come first before anyone else from the time of commitment and beyond. Looking back leads to "plowing a crooked furrow." Paul assured us that pressing forward to knowing Christ makes every other goal rubbish. In putting all into the goal of following and knowing Christ, we are not alone; we have a big cloud of witnesses who have provided us an example to follow something we cannot immediately see, except through the lens of faith.

Unity in the church is not uniformity. Paul says "one" seven times in Ephesians 4:4-6 and then immediately says "to each one of us," because true unity is living, dynamic, and almost staggering in its variety, not a sheet of identical postage stamps. Believers are one in salvation, as children in one family and members of one body, and regeneration is the same miracle in every case. Yet each keeps an individual identity, personality, and function. The apostles show this. Peter was bold and impulsive, John loving and deep, Thomas slow to believe, Philip calculating, Matthew business-minded, Simon a zealot, and Thaddeus a little-known figure. Each had his own weaknesses to overcome, strengths to build on, failures, successes, and special commission from Christ. The same holds for every member today. Variety does not break the unity, and unity does not erase the variety. This is a special glory the church is to demonstrate. The principle that guarantees both is that Christ, the Head, is the one Giver of every gift, as I Corinthians 12 also teaches: diverse gifts, ministries, and activities, but the same Spirit, Lord, and God. The gifts share one source and one purpose, the profit of all. Every member has a vital function, and the church is not meant for passive spectators. Even a seemingly insignificant function matters, as every part of the body does. Christ Himself calls each person to a specific function, whether prominent or drab, so greater and lesser lights are all essential to God's plan.