{"id":4897,"date":"2019-03-10T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T14:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4897"},"modified":"2019-02-15T18:42:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T00:42:33","slug":"choose-to-agree-to-disagree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4897","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Agree to Disagree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Choices change our lives\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n

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Many live under the assumption that everyone they meet should like them. I have no such unrealistic expectations. How could everyone like me? After all, I don\u2019t like everyone I meet. This includes Christians and non-Christians. Of course, as Christians, I think we should make an effort to get along with everyone, including (or should I say especially) each other, even if we don\u2019t see eye to eye on everything. However, there is no need to put ourselves in situations where we come in constant contact with someone we don\u2019t work well with if we have other options.<\/p>\n

Such was the case with Paul and Barnabas. Both Paul and Barnabas were dedicated servants of God. After Paul\u2019s conversion, he had a difficult time convincing Christians of his sincerity. And rightly so! Was this not the man who had been a vicious persecutor of Christians? It was Barnabas who persuaded the disciples to give him a chance, and a friendship formed between the two of them. (Acts 9:26-28) They even went on a missionary journey together.<\/p>\n

Joining them on this journey was Barnabas\u2019 cousin John Mark. (Colossians 4:10) For some reason, John Mark decided to return home to Jerusalem while Paul and Barnabas completed the mission. (Acts 13:13) John Mark\u2019s decision did not set well with Paul. When another missionary trip was planned and Barnabas suggested taking John Mark again, Paul balked at the thought. So much so that a \u201csharp contention\u201d developed between the two of them. (Acts 15:36-41) They couldn\u2019t reach an agreement, so they agreed to disagree and split up. Paul took Silas on his journey, while Barnabas went with John Mark.<\/p>\n

Now here were two servants of God who couldn\u2019t agree on an issue. This wasn\u2019t a deep theological or doctrinal concern, yet it was a difference of opinion on how to proceed with the work of God. They decided to go their separate ways. We hear nothing about them bad mouthing each other or putting one another down. They merely agreed to disagree.<\/p>\n

The Bible says nothing about who was right or who was wrong in this instance. Some commentaries say Paul was too stubborn. Perhaps, but others feel Paul was guided by logic while warm hearted Barnabas was influenced by John Mark being family. Both Paul and Barnabas were praying to the same God for guidance and both reached a different conclusion. The point is that in some situations there isn\u2019t a right or wrong \u2013 just a different point of view.<\/p>\n

Although we hear nothing about Paul and Barnabas working together again, years later Paul mentions Barnabas fondly in 1 Corinthians 9:6 as a coworker for Christ. It seems Paul and Barnabas maintained a mutual respect for one another, which is difficult to do when you agree to disagree with someone. Paul even had a change of heart about John Mark. In 2 Timothy 4:11 he says, \u201cGet Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026Circumstances change and so do people. How many of us find ourselves eventually valuing someone we once had little regard for?<\/p>\n

Because we all have different strengths and weaknesses, not everyone we meet is going to like us, nor are we going to like everyone we meet. And no matter how hard we try, we will not get along with everyone. The sooner we realize that, the better off we\u2019ll be. But developing the art of agreeing to disagree can avoid conflict, prevent hasty conclusions, and allow time to reevaluate situations. We don\u2019t have to see eye to eye on every issue to live heart to heart.<\/p>\n

One final thought\u2026<\/strong> Believe it or not, there are ways to disagree without being disagreeable.<\/p>\n

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Choices change our lives\u2026 By Barbara Dahlgren Many live under the assumption that everyone they meet should like them. I have no such unrealistic expectations. How could everyone like me? After all, I don\u2019t like everyone I meet. This includes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}