Last week, I made a mistake; I was antagonistic and obnoxious in my rhetoric. Even bringing up the controversial subject was asking for trouble. If you know me, I have strong religious and political views, and being obnoxious is all “fun and games” until someone gets offended, and because of that offense, it has caused heated arguments and even broken friendships. Is it wrong to have strong religious and therefore political convictions? No, but there’s also a Biblical lesson to be learned about how I express my views. So, as I begin this new week, I’m going to start fresh and seek the Lord in how I can learn this valuable lesson of not being so argumentative but instead living at peace with everyone.
As always, let’s turn to the Bible for a solution to my problem: being provocative. Romans 12:18 (NKJV) says, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” What does this mean? A few verses earlier, Paul says to “Let love be without hypocrisy. … Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (verses 9-10). While there’s a lot more to that passage, verses 9-10 explain living peaceably in relevance to my problem. Living peaceably means treating my neighbor as myself, loving them as brothers and sisters, giving them honor as people whom God loves just as much as He does me. Was I loving my friends as a brother would and with honor by being inappropriately controversial? No, I wanted a fight, an argument, a position to hold and defend, the pleasure of winning an argument and being backed up by friends that agreed with me, but that caused strife with my friend, and I didn’t love her as my sister. While it is okay to hold and share controversial opinions, it is important to ask this important question: Are people getting offended at me or at the truth, and is this the right time? In this case, the offense was at me, at my approach; we were not having a respectful conversation and certainly not at the right time. What I should have done was hold my tongue or present what I wanted to say in a way that would not have upset my friend.
Romans 12 says to be at peace with all men as much as you can, not starting arguments and unnecessary disagreements. Yes, people will be offended, but offense must be about truth, not about the truth-teller and unhelpful rhetoric. So, what I would encourage you to do, along with myself, is to read all of Romans 12 and examine yourself. Ask yourself these questions: Am I speaking productive words? Am I being purposefully inflammatory? Is what I am saying going to spread the Gospel and glorify God? For myself, had I asked myself these questions, the answers would have been no, yes, and no. I helped no one but my pride. Nevertheless, what was good in the situation was that the Lord reminded me of an area in my life on which I need to let the Holy Spirit work. If you are struggling with living peacefully with your peers, that’s not okay as isn’t with me, but the Good News is that God will forgive both you and me if we come to Him with a penitent heart, and He will give us His sufficient grace to become better ambassadors of Christ.
COMMITTING TO GOD’S GRACE AND LOVE,
Jeremiah Yonemura
