I was cleaning up some old files and found an unpublished draft I was working on over a year ago. Funny thing is, the subject is still something I find myself considering on an ongoing basis. I suspect it will be something we contend with until we meet Jesus face-to-face.
When we form relationships and attachments with others, one thing is bound to happen sooner or later: We WILL disagree. And I'm not just talking about what to have for dinner. As similar as God made us, He also blessed each of us with the ability to think and reason for ourselves. We aren't simply puppets on strings that he choreographs to His delight. We are individuals with life experiences that contribute to the conclusions we form and the decisions we make. Because all of us have unique compilations of experience from which to draw, the results of our thought processes can lead us to polar opposite conclusions, even when we are supposed to love each other.
It is perplexing and disappointing when those we love make decisions with which we fundamentally disagree. The little stuff isn't so bad. We can all make adjustments for those who insist the best weekend diversion is golf when we'd rather cruise through town on our bicycles. We find ways to compromise between watching mysteries on TV versus comedies. Sometimes, however, our sensibilities diverge on some deeper issues; things some of us might consider deal-breakers.
I could make a short list of such deal-breaker issues, but all of us have them and know exactly what they are. The issues themselves are not the point. It is how we are supposed to treat each other when those issues rear their ugly heads that is the center of this rambling post.
What I write next is more for me than for anyone else.
I am called to love my neighbor as myself. Period. When I am standing toe-to-toe with a brother or sister in Christ, I must do it with the express purpose of being unified, not because I need to be acknowledged as "right." I don't know about the rest of you, but this is probably the toughest thing God has asked me to do, especially when I-know-that-I-know-that-I-know that my position is the unequivocally correct position. How do I pursue unity - how to I LOVE someone when I know they are wrong and they won't budge? How do I pursue unity and love someone if our disagreement turns ugly and maybe both of us say things we shouldn't?
Here's the other hard thing God called me to pursue: Humility. Ouch. It is my job to find a way to mend that relationship. That doesn't mean we need to be BFFs forever, but I do need to make every effort to get the two of us pointed in the same direction, pressing toward the goal to which we were called.
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-5
That may mean I don't get my way even when I'm 100% right. I have learned how to be OK with that, though. God always gets His way, even when I don't. If I am living my life to glorify Him, it won't be about winning the argument, but about doing what He called me to do. And from what I read, that boils down to this:
Surrender Myself to Him
Make Disciples
Love Each Other
For me, that's enough of a job description to keep me busy until I am finally ushered into Glory.
If you disagree, that's OK. I love you still! Let's stay pointed in the same direction, no matter what.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:12-21
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