There seems to be some disagreement about disagreement. How much can Christian brothers and sisters disagree and still be in harmony? How much disagreement is OK? Do we have to agree with everything? 

Paul and Barnabas disagreed. Yet they weren’t vilified for their disagreement. Both went on serving Jesus. In so doing, they covered twice the ground for Jesus as they would have had they not disagreed. It seems that these days if we are not in total agreement, then we are in total disagreement. There is little middle ground. There is less “can we agree to disagree” and still be brothers and sisters in Christ?  There is even less “I could be wrong.”

Discerning what is most important is important. Not every issue is a mountain. Many issues are molehills. I seem to remember a General Superintendent (It may have been Dr. Greathouse, but don’t quote me on this) say something along the lines on how not everything  we Nazarenes believe in carries the same weight. For example, he said, “if someone held me at gun point and wanted me to renounce Christ, I’d say, ‘pull the trigger;’ but if someone wanted me to smoke a cigarette or die, I’d say, ‘hand me a lighter.’” Too many times, we view the matter as a “pull-the-trigger” moment, when it should be handled as a “hand-me-the-lighter”  problem.

Discerning the mountains to die on is important. Disagreeing amicably is also important. To say, “I disagree” is not the same as saying “I am no longer wanting to be in fellowship.” It might simply mean, “I’m wrestling with this issue, and we could we talk about it?” Could we have a conversation?” Disagreeing, for the Christian, should never be equivalent to “I hate you and I’ll never talk to you.” Disagreeing should be more of “I wonder why we don’t see eye to eye on this matter? Isn’t that strange? Let’s talk about it, friend.”

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians seems to be what we all need to be praying a little more. “This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9-10.) Let our discernment be driven by an abounding love that allows for knowledge and insight. Through it all, may we strive to be pure and blameless in all we do. That’s a pretty big ask, only through Jesus can it be accomplished. 

If you disagree with anything I have written above, please hand me a lighter, don’t pull the trigger.