Skip to main content

Agree

             I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. (1 Corinthians 1:10)

 

            I tend to not like this verse much because people (including me) who read it tend to think it means that all those who claim the name of Christ should think the exact same thing about each and every idea that comes along. We’re to chuck our brains in the garbage at the door and become “Stepford Wives” of Christ. What that means is that if I have an “original thought” (granting that there is “nothing new under the sun,) I am automatically wrong. Of course, this problem would be resolved immediately if everyone else were to obey this verse by agreeing with what I say and not dividing themselves against me – if you were all perfectly united in mind and thought with me as the standard.

            That idea is a nightmare to at least some of my readers with good cause. It would be a nightmare to me for everyone to think like me. It’d be boring! But while we may not realize it, when we call for everyone to agree, we generally don’t mean that they would disagree with us in doing so.

            At the same time, we have no unity if we don’t have some thoughts or practices in common. This is why we need to seek God’s truth, not our own. Sometimes there are personal truths that we aren’t to impose on others. This is why I both agree and struggle with what Dallas Willard said about practicing being wrong and learning to be wrong. We need to learn to handle being wrong well, and we need to be willing to let others be right, but where Scripture is clear on a topic, if we’re standing with what Scripture says, we should not back down. We still need to treat the other person with respect, but Scripture says – and take them to the passage where it clearly says it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more