When Jesus walked on planet earth, his kingdom was open to everyone. With a diverse population of believers come diverse sets of beliefs and opinions. This is the tension we feel as Christians. The truth is that every political position claims a part of Jesus. Yet, we should be united as a body of believers, and, as Jesus prayed, our oneness will be our witness. Yet, where does our unity end and disagreement begin? In a diverse and polarizing world how do we actually live this out?
In the early church, the differences between Jews and Gentiles went far deeper into history and were far more all-encompassing than any division we face here in America. Romans 14 is highly instructional for how to pursue unity within a diverse church that’s filled with potential for division. We are to aggressively embrace with personal interest those in the church who think differently than us. We should do so without trying to debate or judge the person with whom we disagree. Yet, we should each be fully convinced in what we believe, and should do so in honor of the Lord. So how is that possible? How do we aggressively disagree and aggressively embrace, yet still live in unity?
The answer is simple. We fully live for God and it is God who will ultimately judge us. I don’t have to judge you, because God will...but he’ll also judge me. Our biggest concerns are our rights and being right, yet Jesus calls us to lay down our rights for our brothers and sisters righteousness. In doing so we mirror Jesus who served us not because we were right, but in light of our wrongness he still chose to die for us. The call of Jesus is to disagree totally and love each other unconditionally.