Disagree Without Despising
LETTER BY BRIAN MORYKON
“What are you afraid will happen if you get close to them?”
My counselor had a way with questions.
I’d been telling him how the people at our church had good hearts but held some beliefs that rubbed me the wrong way.
Answering the question took some soul-searching. Along the way, I saw different options for responding to Christians with whom you disagree.
Option one: keep your distance or at least keep your walls high.
Option two: get to know them with the intention to set them straight.
Option three: move toward them with a humble heart that seeks to understand.
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace,” the Apostle Paul begged the young congregation at Ephesus (Eph. 4).
Unity isn’t uniformity. A body has wildly different parts. When it’s healthy, the parts aren’t competing; they’re cooperating in response to signals from the head.
Unity also doesn’t mean we throw out discernment, fail to set boundaries, overlook harm, and pretend we all get along.
Unity is the ability to disagree without despising one another. It requires being moved by love, not fear. When we feel fear through any of its responses (flight, fight, freeze, fawn), may we turn to the Father, seek out a counselor or friend, and ask for help to heal the root from which the fear grows.
Such healing may come in a moment. More likely, it will take a lifetime and come not merely through thinking but through putting our bodies in places where God transforms our thoughts — perhaps at the church coffee bar, striking up conversation with that person we avoid.
Let’s heed Paul’s charge to another family of believers: You’re chosen and beloved, so wrap yourself in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another. When someone offends you, don’t hold on to it. Forgive as Christ forgave you. Above all, learn to love. The peace of Christ is ready to rule your heart… but only if you let it. So take the steps necessary to allow Christ’s peace permission to rule within you and among you. Be thankful. Let the word of Christ — what he taught and lived — dwell richly in you. And whatever you do, whatever you say, do it as Jesus would, because he lives in the person you disagree with just the same as he lives in you.
Brian Morykon
Director of Communications
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LET’S DIVE IN...
CURATED BY GRACE POUCH
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1.
Venezuelan-Canadian author Paola Barrera joins Nate on Life With God to discuss her story of immigration and how it shaped her outlook on God’s kingdom.
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2.
Read Paola Barrera’s essay for Christianity Today—“I Was Once an Immigrant. Then I Forgot.”
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3.
In an essay from Renovaré’s new booklet Body, Bride, Boat, Drew Dixon introduces the Body metaphor for the Church and offers questions to help us reflect on the importance of diversity and unity among the members of the Body.
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4.
We must “fearlessly practice” unity in the Body, writes Kokichi Kurosaki in this excerpt from his book One Body in Christ.
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5.
Marilyn McEntyre writes about the human body, “How organs rely upon each other, how systems are interrelated, how hormones transfer messages, how contaminants are identified and released, all may deepen our appreciation of the rich and shocking metaphor Paul invoked to teach early Christians how to be the church.”
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6.
Over the next few weeks, we are diving into metaphors describing the Church. The book of Acts tells the story of Church’s beginnings. I wonder what the Spirit might stir within our hearts if some of the 40,000 of us who receive this newsletter all concentrated on the story of Acts and prayed through it at the same time. This week, I’ll be reading Acts chapters 1 – 4. Will you read along with me?
Grace Pouch
Content Manager
WORTH QUOTING
“Christians are Christ’s own parts. They are not only friends of Christ… He breathes through them.”
– Sadhu Sundar Singh
The Message of Sadhu Sundar Singh
(source)
TO CONTEMPLATE
Happy Jesus
Fan Pu
(source)
Christ’s Incarnation is unrepeatable, unique. But it was the Trinity’s good plan that the physical body of Jesus would leave this earth, and that his people would become the dwelling place for his Spirit. Fan Pu’s image reflects the incarnational reality that we are Christ’s body — the habitation for his Spirit on earth. Is our fellowship of such a character and unity that we are a “happy” expression of Christ’s body to the world? My friends, we cannot bear the image of Christ alone. Each person is one expression of God’s creativity, one unique package of personality, gifts, and beloved personhood. But the expression of God’s reality as a loving communion only comes into focus and into power as we love each other and join in worship, submission, growth, service, and friendship. A body’s strength and beauty comes from the diversity of its parts.
TO PONDER
Think of one follower of Jesus you know personally who isn’t your favorite — could be a family member or a person at church. Ask God to show you one beautiful thing about them. Give thanks that they are part of the Body of Christ.