5 Attitudes Toward Someone With Whom We Disagree

For Christians, it can be difficult to know how to engage in an uncivil culture and in an uncivil season. On the one hand we want to stand boldly for truth, speaking prophetically to our culture and wisely steward our rare gift of shaping our government. On the other, we're commanded by Scripture to comport ourselves differently. So how do we do this? Here are five principles from the Scripture that helps us adopt grace-filled attitudes toward those with whom we vehemently disagree: 
 

1)        Love Your Neighbor As Yourself (Mark 12:31).

At the very least your political opponent, whether it's the President, someone in the other party, your opinionated relative, or the blogger who has it all wrong--that person is your neighbor. And we are to love our neighbors, not with a sort of grudging foot-dragging love, but "as yourself." In other words, you are to treat them with the same respect you would want to be treated. How does this play out in the public square? Well I think it means we argue principles without making it personal. It means we give them the benefit of the doubt. 1 Corinthians 13 says that one of the definitions of love is that it "believes all things and hopes all things." In other words, we can oppose someone politically without thinking they are part of some evil, Machiavellian scheme to make our lives miserable.

2)       Love Your Enemies (Matthew 5:43-48).

 I think viewing a political opponent as an "enemy" might be too strong, but let's just assume that for a moment, on the issues about which you care, he or she is your enemy. For instance, I think it could be honestly said that most liberals are adversaries of the pro-life position that I hold. So how does Jesus' words to love them apply? Well, I'm suppose to love them with the fullest definition of love. I can oppose what they stand for without ridiculing the person or mocking them or their families. I love my political adversaries by speaking only what I know to be true about them. I means I see any good and redeeming values in them and pray for them.

3)       Honor the King (1 Peter 2:17). 

Peter wrote these words to a church about to endure four decades of brutal persecution at the hands of Roman oppressors. And yet Peter writes, "Show proper respect to everyone, Fear God, Honor the King." If this seems difficult to do under leaders who might oppose biblical values, imagine how difficult it was for Christian citizens of Rome. But it's made easier with the middle words of that phrase, "Fear God." Romans 13 reminds us that nobody is in power except those God anoints and puts in power. So, you can show proper respect to a political adversary because you acknowledge the sovereignty of God and you affirm that even your enemy was created in God's image. And therefore you can honor a political leader because in doing so you're honoring the God who put him or her there. I think the words, "respect" and "honor" give us a good grid for how we should make political arguments. We can forcefully oppose unjust, unwise, or unbiblical policies without resorting to name-calling, mockery, and slander. In doing this, I think Christians set themselves apart. Think of men like Nehemiah, Daniel, and Joseph who served wicked monarchs and still always showed proper respect to the office.

4)       Pray for Your Leaders (1 Timothy 2:2). 

There are not many specifics in the New Testament about Christian political activism. I might point to Jesus's words in Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus prayer in John 17 and Paul's appeal in Romans 10 for the necessity of Christians to shape culture at all levels (including political and governmental). But the one very specific instruction regarding Christians and their leaders is the command to pray for them. We Christians (myself the most guilty) seem to have it backward. We treat activism as a necessity and prayer for our leaders as an option. We should do both. We should pray and watch, pray and build, pray and act. But we must never diminish prayer. We must pray for our President, our Congress, our Governors, our statehouses, our mayors, our local leaders. Public service is a difficult calling. I like what Max Lucado is doing this year to gather Christians to pray during this election season.

5)        Speak with Grace (Colossians 4:6).

Paul writes to the church at Colosse, "Let your conversation be always full of grace." This verse really convicts me, because I now that my speech is not always marked by grace. Especially in election season. Especially when I'm all wound up with an opinion or idea about someone with whom I disagree. But followers of Jesus should be marked by grace. This means that what we post, what we say, what we discuss should run through the prism of grace. How is graceful speech different than ordinary speech? It flows from a heart humbled by God's forgiveness. It considers the human behind the argument. It tries not to divide, but to unite. It grounds every argument in the gospel story. Graceful speech doesn't post angry, half-truth, slanderous opinions on Facebook. Graceful speech doesn't support distorted 30 second TV ads. Graceful speech is open to new arguments, admits wrongs, and doesn't assume that it's right all the time

Confidence towards God

Confidence is a virtue which is rare to be seen in today’s world, where everything and everyone seems to change from time to time and from place to place. It’s difficult to be confident about anything in this world. Insecure circumstances and times have created fear and doubt in every life on the face of this earth. One feels that the best way to escape this uncertainty about everything happening is to be in a spiritual world. But in the spiritual world these days, we see more of chaos and havoc, more than what we see in the world around…..so much so that we lack confidence even in our own spiritual lives. We are not sure of our prayers nor of our standing before God. We are confused by the changing tones of our spiritual leaders.
It’s easy to have confidence in God, because He is perfect and holy, able and mighty.
We don’t have confidence in ourselves, for we have nothing of our own. Even our health and every breath is God’s gift, given to us for a certain period of time.
But what ultimately matters is the confidence towards God or the confidence to stand before our God. This is the area of our lives which needs to be built up time and then. This is what finally builds up our faith life.

Apostle John has rightly hit the nail on its head to build up one’s confidence in oneself before God. Note that he is not talking about having self confidence…but about confidence before God. It simply means how confident are we to stand before a holy and perfect God.
When we stand before our God, the following questions determine our confidence towards God :
1. Are our prayers being heard ?
2. Are we praying the right prayers ?

1. Are our prayers being heard ?
Though we pray as often as possible, the time span to receive the answers to our prayers often test our confidence as to whether our prayers are being heard or not. When we receive immediate answers, our confidence gets boosted. But even after months and years of prayers, when we do not get a response, does our confidence start going down hill ? What assures us of our prayers being heard ?
A. 1 Jn.3: 21-22, ‘Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.’
The three C’s of having a clear heart :
a) Conviction : We have confidence before God, if our heart do not condemn us. Remember friends, not all hearts are court rooms. But the hearts fed with the word of God become court rooms which either condemns us or favors us. Personal prayer time is the time of hearing, when we lay our hearts, open and bare before our Lord. This is where, the Holy Spirit convicts us of the smallest sins of our lives. This is where, when sought, the Holy Spirit reveals the hidden sins of our lives.

b) Confession : The ball is then in our courts….whether to ignore or to confess and repent. The latter clears us off our condemnation and builds our confidence to stand before God. But often, we have such accusations against us, to which we stick on to, rather than they sticking on to us. In other words, there are some shortcomings of our lives, which we love to have . We sure are aware of their existence in our lives, but somehow we hesitate to get rid of them. We justify these shortcomings and continue to carry them. These destroy our confidence towards our God. But friends, be reminded that the moment we confess to our Lord about our shortcomings, we expose them. Confessions hands over our weaknesses to the hands of our Lord.

c) Clearance : Confessions followed by repentance clears us off our accusations and condemnations. The more we practice the three C’s, the more we walk in Spirit and the more we abide in Christ. Rom.8:1, ‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death.’

Being cleared of all the convicted accusations gives us assurance about our prayers being heard. In fact, this confidence is the secret of our spiritual strength. Is.30:15, ‘For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

B. Keeping His commandments and what pleases Him :
1 Jn.3: 21-22, ‘Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.’ Obeying His commandments is the only proof of genuine soul saving faith in Christ. It is also the assurance of walking in Him and with Him. 1 John 2: 3-6, ‘We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.’
His commandments are known to us through His word, but to know what pleases Him, we need to have a closer walk with Jesus. A servant knows the commandments of his master, but only a wife who knows her husband intimately, can understand and know as to what exactly pleases her husband, the master. The master reveals His mind and heart’s desires to the ones who love and know Him closely. One can keep His commands and yet fail to do what pleases Him. Luke 15:29, ‘But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ The elder son claimed to have obeyed his father’s commands but yet failed to know and understand his father’s heart’s desire. The father embraced his lost and found son, who did well by repenting and humbling himself . Hence, this younger son got much more than he asked and deserved. Keeping His commands and doing what pleases Him are both equally important to build our confidence towards God and of being assured about our prayers being heard.
2. Are we praying the right prayers ? Prayer is talking to God. The word of God instructs us to pray unceasingly in Spirit. Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to make known all our requests by prayer with thanksgiving. So, no prayer can be strictly marked as right or wrong. But indeed, there are prayers prayed as per His will and prayers prayed as per our will. This makes a major difference in building up the confidence towards God. Prayers of His will are sure to be heard, while the prayers of our own will may or may not be heard.
1 Jn.5:14-15, ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.’ Prayers of His will is always Christ centered, while the prayers of our will is always ‘I’ or ‘we’ centered. To pray as per His will, we need to know Him and keep growing in His knowledge. The answers to prayers prayed as per His glorifies His name and fulfils His purposes for our lives.
In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus first prayed as per His own will…..to remove the cup of suffering away from Him. But the very next moment, He prayed for God’s will to happen. God answered His prayers. God’s will happened in the life of Jesus. Because of that prayer, today, you and I have been set free from the clutches of sin. Because of that prayer of Jesus , the devil has been defeated and exposed for ever. Prayers of His will weighs more in terms of confidence towards God.
How often we think that our own will for ourselves is much better than God’s will for us. He has seen us from our future towards our past. But we see only our present and our past. Hence, our vision about our needs is too narrow. But our Lord sees our needs in a far greater perspective . We need to trust completely that His will is far better than our own will. Only then can we sincerely pray for His will to happen in our lives. And only such prayers are fully assured of being answered, thereby building up our confidence towards God.
Dear friends, last, but not the least…..we need confidence towards God not only for getting answers to our prayers, but to stand without shame before Him, when He comes. 1 Jn.2:28, ‘And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.’ We need to be confident about our spiritual lives, for we yearn to hear from our master, “well done, my faithful servant”. This is the ultimate hope, we have, if we continue to abide in Him and thereby, be confident towards God .