Meeting Mr. Right

Looking up on my street

    Earlier today I was having a conversation with someone that I do not know very well but that I genuinely like. After a few minutes he began to tell me about some the things on his mind. Since meeting the man a little over a month ago I have asked God to open the door for me to be some kind of blessing to him.
     My desire was to listen and really hear him. Years ago my desire may have been to listen to him only well enough to get my opening to tell him all the things I thought he needed to hear. Not shockingly I have found that God actually uses me more with people when my only agenda is to be kind and not to corral every conversation  into my religious corner of choice.

     I had what is for me a hard choice to make today. The choice was between what the late Jack Frost called "being in relationship" with someone or "being right". Sometimes those are the only two choices. There are obviously times when it is essential to declare and stand up for certain truths. But I believe there are often times where relationships can grow when someone is willing not to try to "win" the other person to their way of thinking and just listen. Today I felt the latter was the way of choice.
     It's easy for me to choose to lay down my opinions when it comes to matters of little consequence. For example, my friend Gary Wilson believes Barry Sanders was a better overall running back than Emmit Smith in the 90's. He's wrong and I can let that go. It is not always as easy when it comes to issues of faith and religion. It is definitely not as easy when it comes to opinions that I have regarding the character and ways of God.
      In a 15 minute dialogue the following things were said to me:

• Prophecy is God's way to let the world know how angry He is and of impending judgment.
• The sin nature that Christians still have is too powerful to overcome and will not be remedied until Heaven.
• God's wrath is being revealed through the disasters He causes until the rapture comes.

     I believe that those statements above represent some of the most dangerous unbiblical teachings that are rampant in the American church today. In fact, I disagree with multiple things in each bullet point. I also feel I can explain what I believe is a biblical response to each of those three statements. However...
     While I vehemently disagree with those statements I had to recognize that I am not the final authority on all things concerning prophecy, sanctification and eschatology. I also had to accept that he was not asking me for my opinion. I had to shut my mouth internally as well. It's hard to really hear someone when I am formulating my own rebuttal in my mind. So I just listened.
     After being asked if I understood him, I was able to tell him that I don't see those things the same way. I restrained myself from explaining why. He can ask why if he wants to know. By shutting up I was able to be relational rather than adversarial. My pride wanted to argue. Wisdom (as usual) recommended quietness and kindness.
     I may get together with him in the future. I feel a God-pull towards him and hope that it happens. I at least feel like I didn't do damage today trying to prove my rightness that will impede our future relationship. I feel very good about that.
     The dangerous thing about blogging is that someone like me can do something correctly 1 time out of a hundred and never post about the 99 others. I hope my average goes up in the next hundred opportunities - it will give me more to blog about.