3 opinions that I strongly believe- but do YOU agree? Maybe you strongly DISAGREE? OR maybe you don't REALLY care about sports or fast food?
Today is election day 2016. After seemingly hours and hours and hours of TV ads and news coverage,and billions of dollars spent; a new president will be elected. AND no matter who is elected, over 40% of our country will be angry about the result. Our country is very much in a time of disagreement. So how do we handle that disagreement and anger?
I couldn't help but think today about the phrase- "Agree to Disagree." I always thought the statement was funny. The visual I got from it is 2 people yelling at each other until they both fall over from exhaustion. They get back up and start yelling again until they can't do it anymore. They finally turn away from each other and slump down pouting because the other person won't agree with them. It would look like this when it was done:
Here is the deal though- agreeing to disagree means there IS an agreement. I believe that when we run into people who might believe differently than us, we have three options. 1. We can argue with them until we are blue in the face trying to change their opinion. 2. We can change our opinion (yeah that NEVER happens easily). OR 3. We can listen to them, they can listen to us, and we can agree to respect each others differences.
The reality of life is we are going to run into people who think differently than us all the time. But this is a GOOD thing and a JOY! I like some of my ideas, but if everyone loved Taco Bell as much as I did, I would have to wait FOREVER in line just to get my quesadilla.
A GREAT Bible verse to bring into discussions with people is from James 1:19-20-19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Be QUICK to listen- SLOW to speak.
The key to any disagreement is listening. You might say we have 2 ears and only 1 mouth for a reason...haha. So don't forget that NOT just with political talk but with life. We all have a full life of experiences behind us that have shaped who we are and what we believe. We have a certain stance on life that is completely unique to us. So what a GIANT blessing we have to talk with people and hear about THEIR life experiences and what they are passionate about in life. Let's not let the things we disagree about shape us.
Be Quick to Listen, and Slow to Speak even when you may agree to disagree!
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