The Latest In Christian Headgear

I don’t like navigating the people I meet (even through social media) by provocation and prosecution, “identifying” them as fast as I can so I can stick them into my pre-configured templates, then to deal with them. It’s not real, it’s not authentic—it’s presumed. Since I began to know Jesus and found that He’d made a home in me, knowing that He loves and cares perfectly for me has meant (among other things) that I love and care for others; not only those I agree with, but those with whom I do not. The only people I cannot actually have a true conversation with are those who reject me before we get started—those who prefer relationship by template.

There’s a time and a place to prosecute my opinion, to be sure. Many have not yet discovered what God has discovered to me, and because we do not agree, there’s a certain tension in our relationship as we explain our opinions. Sometimes it gets heated because it’s personal and difficult to do that, but why can’t that be okay? I think it can. In my experience, it’s pretty normal.

There are some issues we will divide over, as the apostle Paul did with some people in his day, but I sure don’t like that division thing. I want to be with people and talk with them, so any attempt to portray those who disagree with me as stupid or uneducated as a way of proving the superiority of my opinion is not in keeping with how Jesus treats me. He’s not like that. Not at all. My opinion is based upon Someone I know, Someone who loves and listens to me, not just a book I’ve read, as much as I like the Bible—particularly the New Covenant.

Which is why, I am convinced, the One who lives in me and whose heart I have thinks having really big ears on my head is a good idea.