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Devotion.al

Tag: disagree

  • No Face Value

    Genesis 20:1–18, 1 Samuel 16:7, Proverbs 21:2, Romans 1: 18–25

    When you look at someone, can you tell they are a Christian? If you can, there are a few reasons why: (1) Pride…yours for God knows and weighs the heart; (2) Their life and spirit show Jesus; (3) is there a 3rd one?

    In the Scriptures, we are cautioned to not assume that a person is right with God. Abraham made that mistake and almost caused a man to commit adultery who was innocent. Abraham assumed Abimelech did not fear God. Abraham may have been right when it came to the surface. However, Abimelech listened to God.

    As a tradition, Christians have taken affirmations of faith at face value, for the very reason that we do not know the heart. Paul does note in 1 Corinthians 12:3, that no one can say that Jesus is Lord without it being of the Holy Spirit. However, in Romans 10:9, Paul also says that we are only saved if we believe in our hearts. One is an outward statement, and the Holy Spirit goes before all. The other is an inward statement that can only be between a person and God.

    There is a lot of finger-pointing in the world, and some of it involves avowed Christians (i.e., people who say they are Christians and/or follow Jesus Christ) pointing at other avowed Christians, and accusing them of apostasy (i.e., false teaching and/or walking away from the faith) or not being Christian. If we take the Scriptures seriously, then accusing another of not being a Christian because they don’t agree with us on certain issues (especially non-salvation issues) is not in line with what the Scriptures say becomes a very dangerous road to walk.

    1) Have you ever accused (whether out loud or in your mind) another person of not being a Christian, when they state they are one?

    2) What are some good ways to engage other Christians regarding important topics on which we disagree?

    3) When should disagreements be brought up, and when should they be left alone?

  • Countercultural Love

    2 Samuel 1:17–27, Romans 12:9–21, Romans 13:1-10

    David had been pursued by the House of Saul for many years. Even after Saul acknowledged that David had been acting more righteous than he, there wasn’t restoration. David was cut off from his friends (like Saul’s son, Jonathan), his first wife, his nation. He was in exile. David had been anointed to be king but was kept from the throne by an unrighteous man.

    In the political climate of today, we can easily imagine the celebrations of the other “side” (whichever one that is) celebrating the death of the king and his family. In fact, it seems to have become a tradition for the last few presidents to have people asking and praying for their deaths. David was not like that with Saul.

    David could have been angry and arrogant. Instead, he mourned. He wrote a song to mourn the passing of the House of Saul. He insisted others learn it and share it. He was not happy that the throne was his. He was miserable for the loss of the leading family. In the current political climate, do you see that happening for any politician?

    When Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, we have to remember that they were lower than the Jews in Roman eyes. Paul still charged them to love. Bless the persecutors? No eye for an eye? Be at peace? With them? Talk about countercultural!

    “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.”
    —Romans 12:21

    While the Roman government was certainly no friend of Christians, Paul still told them to submit. While there is an ongoing distrust of government today (been there since the founding of the country), the odd thing is, in the US the citizens choose their leaders. We are still called to pray for them as much as we may not agree with their decisions.

    This also leads back to love. If we view people with whom we disagree as anything other than people for whom Jesus Christ died, we have a problem. When we behave or believe that we cannot be wrong, we have removed God from the throne of our heart and put ourselves back on it. Back to the way our hearts were before we found salvation in and through Jesus Christ.

    1) There is a strong human need for an enemy…an other. When have you been tempted (or succumbed) to treat another with whom you disagree as an enemy? What if they are family or framily?

    2) We are called to be of one mind with Christ. How does treating a Christian as an enemy make a person of one mind with Christ?

    3) One of the greatest tools of the enemy is division. How can you oppose this tool with the heart of Jesus?

  • A Clean Tongue

    Colossians 3:1–11

    Paul’s list of idolatrous tendencies to be put to death seems pretty straightforward. Sexual immorality is (basically) sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman. Impurity continues the sexual theme, but it is less specific. Lust is lust. Evil desire is not the actual sexual immoral act, but its very thought. If fact almost all of these are sex. Except for greed. It seems strange to throw greed (or covetousness) into this, but we can recognize that all of these are selfish things that hurt, oppress, or steal from others.

    It’s the next words that become interesting. Anger is more of the always angry person (i.e., temperament), rather than being angry (though do not sin in your anger, Ephesians 4:26–27). Wrath is more akin to jealous anger so as to diminish others. Malice is seeking to do harm (physically or verbally). Slander is speaking badly of others so as to diminish their reputation. Do not lie to one another. All of these seem pretty simple. It’s the one that was skipped that is very tricky as the culture changes around us.

    Filthy language. From a church perspective, and even a few cultural decades, filthy language seemed pretty clear cut. However, as the culture changes, so too does our awareness of “filthy”. Obscene is still pretty straightforward. However, aischrologia (the Greek word used here) also means culturally inappropriate. And, this dear framily should cause us to pause.

    Regardless of how one feels about much of the discourse in general society, there are certain words that are not so culturally appropriate and even more when considering the context. In fact, there are many words and phrases that are no longer appropriate. The list is rather long, and it regularly changes. Instead of being offended by our words being taken as offensive, the better tactic is to work and not speaking in a way that offends.

    Now, this does not mean silence the Christian witness. This does mean that your choice of words “tells” another person how much you value them. If you willingly speak words or phrases that are no longer culturally acceptable, then others will cease to value your words.

    This often becomes a cultural battle of they shouldn’t be “snowflakes” or “super-sensitive”. Yet, we are to answer for our witness. While many may agree or disagree with your perspective of others, it’s Jesus’ perspective of them that should matter most.

    1. Can you think of a time recently where you thought of others less because they were hurt by a common word or phrase? What do Paul’s words tell you about that?
    2. There appears to be an increase of verbal sensitivity, on the one hand, yet an increase in uncivil discourse. How do you think Paul’s words and Jesus’ perspective should inform your response to both?
    3. Regarding obscene/filthy language, much of the culture no longer finds it so. How do you think Paul’s words apply in that case?

  • Attending Well

    Deuteronomy 30:15–20, Acts 4:5–22

    If someone were to give us a speech about being given the way to life or death, there would likely be an automatic naysayer response. This is the case when the “way” is exercise, healthy eating (including the latest fads), life philosophy. In the Christian context, we understand the Jesus is that “way”. To many of us who have heard and believed, this is obvious.

    Yet, there are many in the church and the world that when they hear something along the lines of, “See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity,” they turn off. You, too, might have that exact same response. It’s an understandable response because we see the human saying it, and we know humans. They don’t really understand the “way”. How can they, they’re only human.

    The way of life and prosperity is empowered by the faithful attention to the Holy Spirit. Man cannot do it alone. Man needs to be in humble partnership with God, letting God lead. The importance of humility cannot be overstated. If we were to take, for example. prosperity to its extreme, we all understand that it is an issue. Really, the promise that was given was that Israel would have enough.

    Yet, to have even enough, they would have to walk in harmony with God. That is often the hard part. The leaders of the Jews were so strongly focused on the right checkboxes that they could no longer see the way. With the disciples, we also see a transformation of the promise. The prosperity was not of this world (except, one hopes, in framily).

    The other darker transformation of the promise is that the way often leads to adversity and death. The disciples experienced both, as do many Christians around the world today.

    1) What do you think about the promise changing? Do you agree, or disagree? Why?

    2) Financial prosperity has often been used to judge God’s blessing and a person’s faithfulness. What is your take on that?

  • Waiting to See

    Daniel 7:13-14, Luke 24:44-53, Ephesians 4:1-16

    The Book of Daniel contains many prophetic writings. Often the prophet themselves may not know what exactly the words mean. Christians, by-and-large, don’t disagree much on these verses in Daniel have to do with Jesus. It seems pretty obvious, but we can often deceive ourselves when it comes to prophesy (think the Book of Revelation). However, with our understanding (and belief) about Jesus, this passage in Daniel seems to us only applicable to Jesus. Just think about that. Daniel was given a vision of the future that in no way matched his understanding of God, yet here it was.

    Even living with Jesus, experiencing his life, death, and resurrection, the disciples had to have Jesus open their minds so that they could understand Scripture, including the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. It wasn’t easy. God had to open their minds. The disciples lived with God during his time on Earth, and their minds still had to be open. What does that tell us about ourselves?

    Jesus commands them to stay in Jerusalem until they are “empowered.” Yes, we know what that means, but did they? Jesus then blesses them and ascends to Heaven. And off they go to the Temple? How many people would go to someplace different, rather than stay at their “great” experience? They had someplace to go, for they had something to declare.

    The experience, the declaration, the way of life. Through the grace of Christ, it is to that we are called to live.

    1) Do you ever wonder what people in the Bible thought about the events that they were living? Do you give them more credit (or less) than they are due?

    2) The Holy Spirit had not yet come, yet the disciples’ minds were opened to an understanding of Scripture. What does that tell us and our understanding of Scripture?

    3) More waiting. The worship at the Temple may have just been the outlet for the waiting. What do you do as an outlet when waiting for God?

  • Ruling Tradition

    Psalm 79, Romans 15:1–13, 1 Corinthians 8:1–13, Galatians 2:11–15

    Yesterday we talked about rules. Today we’re going to talk about rules.
    One of the first rules of framily is to build up one another. We have all done this well. We have all done this horribly. Another rule is to live in harmony with each other. Yet another is to accept one another. These rules are incredibly important when we disagree (see Thursday’s, 23 May, devotional). Doing all of these well is hard, and it is well worth doing.

    One thing that always ends up with some kind of tension is tradition and misunderstanding. When Paul discusses food offered to idols, his perspective is it’s fine, since they aren’t real idols anyways. The meat was sold at a discount since it was “used” at pagan temples to “feed” their gods. Paul was saying it was food. He was supporting the practice, except that there were new or struggling or misunderstanding members of the church who saw the buying and eating of this meat as participating in and agreeing with idol worship. Paul didn’t agree with them, yet still instructed the more mature believers to avoid the cheap food so that those struggling wouldn’t succumb to the old ways.

    Paul is not shy in taking on fellow leaders, like Peter, who quickly yield to tribal (i.e., Jewish) pressure to not be contaminated by Gentiles. What makes this even more interesting in regards to tradition, it was Peter who led the charge against it. Even the leaders fall back into old habits.

    1) What is the difference between traditions and rules?

    2) How do they function differently in your life? How about your faith life?

    3) How do we confuse rules and traditions with our faith?

  • Lead In Love

    Mark 9:33–37, Acts 15:36-41, 1 Timothy 6:3–11

    It is an amazing fact that you might have learned yourself: people are different, and don’t always agree.
    There are various kinds of disagreements, and it is not necessarily bad to disagree. In fact, it is often through disagreements that better solutions, not just compromise, can be found. In our current political environment, compromise is now a bad thing, as members of both Republican and Democrat parties entrench themselves. While the President may be the focal point, the reality is people seem to have lost the ability to discuss hard things without devolving to name calling and pointless posturing.

    The disciples argued with each other regarding who was first among Jesus’ disciples. Two of them, Peter and John, probably had the strongest claim (from what scripture tells), but that this argument appeared to be amongst all of them indicates that Peter and John’s “ranking” was not as prominent as we think. This would be a pointless argument. While figuring out who is the leader is often a good discussion at other times, their little group had a leader…Jesus.

    The “sharp disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas is one of the biggest examples that not everything went perfectly well and peaceful all the time in the church. John Mark was the point of contention. What the exact issue was, both past and possible future, we can guess. Neither leader (for both were leaders) felt they could compromise regarding John Mark. They separated after being together so long. They had some sort of reconciliation later. This shows us that we can disagree well, and part ways. It doesn’t seem that either held it against the other for long.

    Paul understands that there will be conflict and arguments. In his letter to his protégé, Timothy, Paul doesn’t say don’t argue, but that people who seek argument are to be corrected. We all want to be right (and viewed that way), but most of us are aware of our limitations. We are able to be humble when wrong.
    As the world starts to stop talking and only yell, the church (with its many human failings) should show the way. As the church deals with uncomfortable topics, it should lead in love. This starts right here with our framily.

    1) Have you ever had an argument which has been left unresolved, and thus straining or destroying a relationship? Was it friends, immediate family, or was it framily? What can you do to resolve things?

    2) Why is it so important to understand that we don’t always agree and that it is okay?

  • Coming to Life

    Psalm 122, John 17:12–19, Revelation 2:8-11

    Definitions are very important. Whether it’s theology, politics, or general conversation, having the same definition for a word is key to communicating. On top of that, there are cultural expectations and presumptions where two people can agree on a definition, but then disagree on how it is actually lived out. Have you ever had that experience? You are talking with a person, you both seem to agree on the definition, but by the end of it you realize that while the definition is the same, you both ended up completely differently?

    Why are we talking about definitions? What is the Very Good Life? That depends. The whole starting point of the Very Good Life defines the actual living of the Very Good Life. For the world, it mostly is stuff and “happiness”. For those who follow other religions, their religion helps them to understand what the Very Good Life is (this is not going to be a comparative religion discussion). From a Christian point of view, the Very Good Life starts with Jesus Christ. It is not our salvation, our continued growth in holiness (sanctification), it is not attending church weekly. It isn’t that these activities are bad (they are, in fact, very good), but none of them exist without Jesus Christ.

    This prayer of Jesus’ is both a prayer to the Father and a lesson for the disciples. Jesus asks the Father to protect his friends and followers. It gets very interesting when Jesus asks that his (Jesus’) joy be completed in them, and then we get to the world hates (and hated, and will be hating) them. What? Complete joy and the world hates it. Think about God’s perspective. Full and complete Godly joy results in the world hating them (and us). How is this the Very Good Life? It’s not from the world’s point of view. God knows it. We should know. Yet despite the fact that we should know it, we act as if we don’t. Or we act as if there is a middle way. Jesus asks God to sanctify them (set them apart) by the Truth (the ultimate, absolute God truth).

    In the letter to Smyrna, Jesus opens up with, “…the one who was dead, and came to life…” This is to remind those who are suffering (the world hates them) that he (Jesus) has already died. Not only that, he came back. It’s an odd sort of assurance. He tells them they are rich, strongly implying that their riches are him (Jesus). The world can hate, jail, and even kill them, but that is not the end. At the end is the crown of life. Still, the Very Good Life is supposed to be our life lived now, not the afterlife. How can this be the Very Good Life? Again, that’s why it is so important to understand that the True Very Good Life starts with Jesus Christ.

    1) Why do you think we can claim (and should claim) that we are living the Very Good Live, even in the midst of trial, pain, and loss?

    2) Naming and Claiming the Very Good Life isn’t living the Very Good Life. How would you define living the Very Good Life?

    3) Where can walking between the True Very Good Life (Jesus) and the Good Life (the world) work? Where does in not work?

  • Trusting God’s Way

    Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17:5-10, 1 Corinthians 6:1-11

    Has someone ever said to you, “I don’t trust anyone?” First, imagine living life like that. Someone who lives such a paranoid life could never be happy. You cannot love if you cannot trust. Second, anyone who says that hasn’t walked down the road of thinking that through to the end. You certainly cannot function in modern society, or really among humans, without some level of trust. Even when driving (when trust is often least), we generally trust people. We have no choice. To get from one place to the other we have to expect that everyone is trying to get to their destination, too, and will behave accordingly. Oddly enough, if such a person were to exist, there is still one person they have to trust, themselves.

    While it is almost impossible to distrust everyone, it is far to easy for people to believe in those who are in power or have influence. We often seem to turn off our common sense and our ability to discern right from wrong when dealing with certain people. Sometimes, even more strangely, we continue to trust people that have already betrayed our trust. People put a lot of trust in the things of man: wealth, power, influence, cars, homes, boats, knowledge, etc. The most dangerous trust, though, is when we get to the point where human knowledge trumps God. For clarity, we’re talking about God. We aren’t talking about, for example, evolution and Genesis, or Jonah and the whale (fish). We’re talking about trusting things of man rather than God. The thing that probably endangers man most of all is knowledge.

    Whether your perspective of the Garden of Eden (a story in the book of Genesis) is a parable (story) or definitive truth, the underlying truth (other than humankind’s pride) is that knowledge is a barrier between us and God. We put it there. We chose, and daily choose, to put knowledge between ourselves and God. Our society honors and elevates those who use knowledge to oppose God. This is nothing new. The sad state of most American Christians (and there are exceptions) is that if there is an enemy (of which America has had and has made many) the general response is not one of, “God, forgive us.” It is, “…raise the Department of Defense budget.” We often justify this response by saying, “it’s a wise choice.” The question we should constantly be asking ourselves “is it the God-ly choice.” Now, here is the real rub. Honest (with themselves) Christians may disagree on many fronts including “just” war, dealing with poverty, dealing with immigration. That is perfectly okay (and normal). What is not normal, and should be, is, “what is God’s response to this through me?” Am I honoring God, or dishonoring God. Again, the reality is that different people will come to different conclusions. Yep.

    When we trust God’s redemptive work in us and by extension God’s redemptive work in others, we can trust people not because people are trustworthy. We trust God’s work because it’s God’s work, not ours. When we trust God’s work, we become that tree planted by the water, nourished by the love and grace of God. God’s transformative grace continually works on, in, and through us. Changing our lives from ones that trusted the things and ways of man, into lives the revolve around God and his love. When God justified us he set us apart to be weird. Trust God. God does amazing things.

    1) Even in the church, people often turn to the ways of man. Why do you think that is?

    2) Especially in the church, people turning to the ways of man is problematic at best, sinful at worst. How can you tell when something is the “ways of man” rather than the “ways of God”?

    3) Often the phrase, “the reason of the heart,” is used to not judge another (and justifiably), but also it is used to justify our personal actions. Why is the concept of only God knowing our heart (both feeling and motivation) both freeing and very dangerous?

    FD) How can you start asking yourself “is this God’s way” questions? What do you think the result will be?