Agreeable Disagreement
by
What do you do if you find yourself disagreeing with a fellow believer in Jesus? You’re both Christians, you both love the Lord, but it becomes apparent in conversation that you each have a slightly different interpretation of a verse of Scripture.
It seems to me that, in those moments, it’s really easy for a minor thing to escalate and become far bigger than it needs to be. I guess that, if we are convinced that we are right and the other is wrong, it’s really hard not to seek to help the other see where they are incorrect. Then, at the same time, we can also want them to realise that we were right. But, before we know it, this can become pretty confrontational.
This happened to me recently where I found myself disagreeing with someone and my first response was to prove my point and help the other see where they were misguided. But interestingly, in the verse above, Paul seems to favour ‘doing what is right’ above being in the right. Paul goes on to say that we should seek to live at peace with everyone. That is not to say truth doesn’t matter. Of course it does. But there is such a thing as disagreeing agreeably!
In Romans 14:1, Paul encourages his readers to accept the person without passing judgment on disputable matters or ‘without quarrelling over opinions’ as some versions put it.
And in 1 Peter 3:15, Peter encourages us to speak with gentleness and respect. `But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect`.
Our enemy loves to cause discord and division among us and, where we find ourselves disagreeing with one another, this can be fertile soil for his works of disunity.
Frankly, we are not going to agree on everything. But where we do find ourselves in disagreement, then our challenge is do so agreeably whenever we can. To be perfectly honest, when we don’t just insist on our own rightness, but rather listen carefully to the other, there’s often much to learn from hearing a different view. I’m certainly not always going to be right, but I’d love to be known as someone who was gracious even in matters of dispute. As Paul says: `if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone`!
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