So, you’re finding yourself at odds with someone in your church, family or neighborhood. What can you do about it?
Someone once said that ‘the faults we notice most in others are those we have ourselves.’ So before we start criticizing and trying to sort out the other person and their thinking and attitudes, it’s a good idea to look at our own lives and ask the Lord to show us what needs to be changed there. Too often we are reluctant to do that. But that’s what growing as a Christian is all about, changing to become more like Jesus. We will never achieve it till we are in glory but that shouldn’t stop us trying to eliminate the sins in our lives.
Secondly we can pray fort the other person. At first it may seem almost hypocritical to pray for them when you are in disagreement with them, but remember this is a person God loves, someone He sent His Son to die for. We need to see people as God sees them, as valuable human beings. Pray too that God will help you reach common points of understanding.
Make a time to get together and talk the situation through with them, calmly and rationally. Before you get together, think is this a salvation issue we are disagreeing about or it is a peripheral issue? Things like music choice, service changes, seating and all sorts of things like this can at times cause problems if we are not careful.
Listen to the other person. Really listen to what they have to say. Don’t be so intent on marshalling your own point of view and making it heard that you do not hear what they are saying.
Keep calm and don’t let emotions get the better of you as you listen and then as you talk to them. If they are agreeable, pray with them.
Sometimes, regardless of good intentions, we may have to agree to disagree. But if you do, then don’t spread tales about them to others. The disagreement is between you and them. No-one else needs to know about it.
Lastly continue to pray for them and for reconciliation in God’s way and time.
Related blogs
How To Handle Disagreements- Part 1
Problems With Having Your Own Agenda
How to Handle Differences of Opinion in Church