Disagree

Disagree

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

A FRIEND RECENTLY POSTED a link on social media with a stance that I totally disagreed with, and the rest of the morning I found myself arguing in my mind against her post. Over and over it continued to roll around in my brain while I tried to rebut what had been said.

Finally I asked myself, Why am I so angry about this? And why do I feel I need to defend my position so vehemently? Do I really need them to see my point of view? Agree with me?

And maybe this was why I was truly upset: I want others to agree with me. Validate what I believe. But as Christians, there are many areas where we can disagree about what exactly Scripture means or how it applies to our lives. We can also differ in our opinions on politics, on raising children, and on health care, just to name a few. And we can even argue about seemingly trivial things.

In the end, I stopped the argument that I was having in my mind and instead spent a few moments praying for my friend, asking God to bless her and reminding myself of all the things I appreciated about her.

I came to the conclusion that, sometimes, it’s okay if we agree to disagree. I don’t need to defend myself all the time. It takes up too much space in my head. And I don’t want to give it that much room in my life—room I’d rather spend thinking about how I could bless someone else, love someone, or give away what we have.

We all need to leave room in our lives to disagree with someone and still love them.

To listen without anger. And respond (or not) without resentment. To still care for the person, even as we have differing opinions. The Bible is clear that the world will know that we are Christians, not because we agree on every issue or topic, but because of our love for one another.

Lord, help us to show others love, especially those we disagree with. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: How can you show love to someone today that you disagree with on a certain issue?