by Jim Gordon
A friend and Christian brother of mine recently passed away unexpectedly. It was quite a shock and something that is just now starting to sink in.
This got me to thinking even more about all the arguing we Christians do with each other.
We are so quick to defend our personal views and interpretations, we will argue, judge and even condemn one another because we see things differently.
Yet in moments like this I cannot understand why we have such a problem accepting one another in a spirit of Christian love. This life passes all to quickly to spend so much time arguing and defending our views.
Jesus said we are to love God and we are to love one another. He did not say we are to fight, argue and condemn one another. We are not to force our way of thinking on others. We are to share the good news that God loves them, but we need not argue over personal views and interpretations.
If only we could get that down inside us and start treating people with the love of God, knowing that we all see things differently. We all have our views, interpretations and beliefs and they are going to vary from person to person. We will not always agree and accept one another’s views.
Obviously, we cannot prove very much when it comes to spiritual matters. Most is a matter of faith and how we personally interpret scripture or how we view what makes sense to us. Rather than continually defending our way of thinking and trying to get others to see things our way, it would be much better if we could love others and accept them for who they are and how God made them.
We will have differences of opinion and there is nothing wrong with that. The Spirit is our guide and teacher and we need to allow each person to hear from the Spirit and follow the way they feel they are being guided.
We also need to accept that not everyone will believe like us, not everyone will believe there is a God and not everyone will interpret the bible like everyone else. I do not believe it is our job to force anything on anyone. God is able to work in the life of each individual the way he sees best. The Spirit will work and draw people to the Father. Even God leaves the decision up to each person as to how they will respond. Even those who do not believe and want nothing to do with him are stilled loved. God wants us to do the same.
Life is to short for all the arguing, judging and condemning. Love God, love your neighbor, love your brothers and sisters in Christ and let the Spirit work in the life of each person. Enjoy one another, enjoy fellowship, have a laugh, be concerned for one another and do what you can to show the love of God to everyone you meet.
“argument” has picked up some negative connotations in modern/pop culture, as we tend to think of arguing much-as fighting or quarreling. But to English diction, “argue” is: to exchange a set of viewpoints and/or to present reasons which may persuade others.
Using our personal preferences to raise walls around ourselves or between people… this seems to be a bad habit emerging out of western individualism and the burden of trying to establish our relating to other people based upon building personal relationships with them. Since there are practical/human limitations in the maintenance of personal relationships, it has become far to easy to vet people over the most insignificant causes… people may see the maintenance & purging of their own “circle” as a good thing, when in reality the process becomes divisive, offensive, constraining, even suffocating.
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I agree Marshall, exchanging viewpoints is a good thing. Yet when we argue by saying you are wrong, I am right and you had better see things my way or else, then it becomes a bad thing. If we could respectfully exchange ideas with those who see things differently, and not expect the other person to change I think we all could learn and get along better. Thanks for the comment.
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Thank you for this! I lost my best friend of 21 years about 9 months ago and I’m still struggling with her death. She was a great Christian woman. Her and I would spend a great deal today time discussing spiritual issues and our different beliefs(we were different denominations) sometimes we would both leave the conversation frustrated. I look back now and understand it really didn’t matter, we could have spent that time and energy in more positive ways. We could have spent time finding our common ground during those conversations rather then focusing on our differences. Life is way to short to waste time on things that most of us can’t change anyway! The great thing is, we are all free to believe how we want…if you see someone you believe is in error, simply pray for God to reveal it them! Then trust that God will🙂Time praying is time spent wisely and you can’t go wrong!
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Thank you Kris. Sorry for the loss of your friend. It is all to common to see the better way of doing things once it is to late. We can certainly continue to pray for guidance and wisdom from the Spirit to open our eyes to these things now.
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Thank you for the reminder. This is something we cannot hear enough of to counteract all the negative, defensive teaching a lot of us have had put into us. I have belonged to very different churches in my life but the one thing in common is their firm belief that they are right and that they must bring others to see that no matter what. The results of such stands are division, criticism and judgment instead of love.
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So true. Division, criticism and judgment, just the opposite of what it should be. Thanks Jem.
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