Seek to edify all!
1. Seek to edify! 19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
- Don’t make being right more important than the relationship!
- What if sought to serve and encourage every person you ever met?
Your greatest aim as a Christian… Is to impact and influence others! Not to be right! If you sacrifice the relationship for being right, then you are wrong… Seeking to edify people builds bridges… harshness… withdrawing burns bridges.
And so… before you burn a bridge… or move to another neighborhood to get away from “those” people…. Build a bridge!
Your greatest aim as a Christian… Is to impact and influence others! Not to be right! If you sacrifice the relationship for being right, then you are wrong… Seeking to edify people builds bridges… harshness… withdrawing burns bridges.
And so… before you burn a bridge… or move to another neighborhood to get away from “those” people…. Build a bridge!
2. Be a learner! Learn to listen!
If you don’t think you have anything to learn… that is a problem! That’s arrogance at worst… ignorance at best… It’s not a political problem… it’s a you problem!
Doesn’t mean we don’t have an opinion… or that we strongly believe and defend out convictions…
2 questions to be a better listener! (Might help you with your marriage…). Pick one or two… when you are tempted to play verbal Ping-Pong… to jump in with your opinion… or to close up and walk away…
a. What led you to that view?
It puts you in the position of listener and learner! It can be painful at times! Like when I ask people about their beliefs on spiritual things… they think they are being so unique and so intellectual… (Idiot!)
Often we get into a discussion and we are getting only the last sentence of a long discussion… there is a whole story behind someone’s beliefs! And that story is important!
The truth is, most of hold the political positions we do because we were taught them! Did you grow up in a big city or small town? Did your family value certain things like education or hard work? Did your parents value you helping people? How did your parents manage money? Our story matters, and we must listen and learn other people’s story! It’s how we put people first!
Here’s why we don’t like this…. Because when you listen to someone’s story, it’s really hard to continue not liking them!
b. Have you always had this view? Voted this way? Believed this way?
As you engage in these conversations, we must remember that as Christians… God has given us clear guidelines!
Gossip applies to political discussions too! We are told that “no unwholesome word should proceed from you accept that which builds up and edifies others!”. God doesn’t dismiss these commandments when it comes to politics!
c. What sources do you get your information from?
If we don’t watch the news we are uninformed… If we watch the news we are misinformed… We are both marginally informed, and probably wrong at some level!
Keep this in mind!!! The media (and I am not anti-media… just go to another country that does not have that freedom!) But… it is a business! And they have a bottom line… profit! Some even brag about how many people watch their news…
In conclusion… as I said last week… never give away… never forfeit your ability to influence someone because you were so concerned about getting your political position across to someone! You have to wrestle with this… is putting a particular bumper sticker or lawn sign going to close the door of opportunity to have an influence on someone?
