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Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Colossians 4:6
I, like so many others, am tired of the harsh, divisive nature of…well, everything. I’m tired of how we can’t speak to one another, how we can’t listen to one another, and we can’t be friends with someone we disagree with. Even Ellen DeGeneres wasn’t above the vitriol when she watched a football game with former President, George W. Bush.
What I find most disturbing is how many Christians are jumping on the rage train…the way many believers try to shame and put down their brothers and sisters because of who they voted for, or where they stand on a particular issue. This is seriously messed up and it needs to stop.
Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). What that means is it’s OK to have differing views of how to solve various issues. It is not OK to make it your life’s mission to make sure the whole world knows how terrible Christians who disagree with you are.
It’s time for followers of Jesus to opt out.
I mean it! We can simply choose to stop, quit…to opt out. Our calling and obligation are to love one another (For a great definition of love see 1 Cor. 13:4-8). You can’t love one another and spend all your time tearing each other apart. So, I’d like to suggest we just tell the world we’re not playing their game anymore.
Instead we choose to follow Jesus, and to love our imperfect brothers and sisters as He has loved us. We choose to show the same grace and compassion to each other that He has shown us. We can have our own view of solutions to cultural issues. We can even disagree. But we choose to do it with love and respect. In short…
We opt out!