A few weeks ago, at an event I was attending, a friend I have been getting to know over the past two years mentioned that he has been enjoying reading my posts. This led to a deep conversation about faith while walking around on a tour. It was pretty cool.
He mentioned that he is starting to look for a church for himself and his family. I asked him what was leading him in this direction. He said something along the lines of, “I grew up Catholic and then began to do my own thing. With all that is going on in our society, I want to lean back in and try to understand what God’s perspective is.”
Wow!
This morning, as I read the scriptures, I was reminded of this conversation when I came across the phrase “Cease Opposing God.”
Without saying it, this is what I heard this young man say. So many of us allow our own desires to rule and dominate our beliefs and actions. What would happen if our desire was to simply “cease opposing God”?
What would happen if we began to ask God to reveal to us what He thinks? What would happen if we asked God to show us what to believe and how to interact with the world?
The issues of the day are complex. The division on issues is real. We end up hating each other because we have opposing views on significant matters. What if we began to agree that together, we are going to simply seek to “stop opposing God”? That we are going to lean in, have hard conversations, listen, learn, and study the scriptures, trusting that God will guide us into all truth. We don’t need to walk away from those we disagree with. We can just have open and honest dialogue.
This will likely be hard for me to flesh out, but this is my desire. I believe God wants me to be able to disagree with the brother down the road, and yet still grab a coffee with him. We don’t need to be like the religious leaders in the scriptures who sought to kill those who opposed their views.
Practicing the way of Jesus invites us to live differently. Let’s do this together!
