Real Hope: Opinion & DisagreementEsimerkki

Spirit Of Truth

If I am a follower of Jesus and so are you, do we have to agree? We live in a searing age of strongly held opinions and violent disagreement. Oddly, for an era where no one is meant to be able to tell anyone else what to think or say or do, plenty of thoughts, words and actions are not allowed. All because they don’t align with social trends or vocal minorities.

Christians often find themselves in opposition with the world around them. Many might feel silenced or shouted down by friends, family, colleagues and comment threads. But brothers and sisters in Christ also can be deeply divided … even though we are united in the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:1–16).

I take it that being united in Christ is not the same as having to agree with each other in everything, always. If that were so, we’d all be the same. God is infinitely more creative than that.

I find passages like John 14:15–17 handy when it comes to Christian discernment. If we love Jesus, we follow His commands. We should agree upon that, right? From such a foundation, we each give over to the Spirit of Truth to guide and inform our opinions, interests and idiosyncrasies. How amazing to know the Spirit is here to empower all we are in Christ. We can agree to disagree but did we really seek the Spirit of Truth through the commanding love of Jesus?

Written by BEN MCEACHEN