What If She's Right? The Sequel

What If She's Right?

The other half of "What If I'm Wrong?"

To admit that I am wrong is a good thing. But it's only half the battle. Repentance is at least a two part process: 1) Admitting I am wrong, 2) admitting the other person may be right, and 3) changing my behavior based on new information....okay, 3 parts.

You may want to refer back to my original blog, "What if I'm wrong?" and see that this was a significant conversion on my part. I get so stuck in my black and white thinking that I am not able to perceive any other points of view. Therefore, it was extremely significant to realize that despite my convictions, there was a 'slim' possibility that I may indeed be wrong. Thus, opening the door to a more gracious manner of approaching someone in an argument or discussion.

Yesterday, Tracy were having a...discussion about packing material. Yes, that's right, a life and death conversation about stuff that we got 5 years ago compared to stuff that we got this week for our move. I will not go into details but I was wrong, not about the information, but about my approach and it hit me that by admitting I was wrong was only half the solution. If I was to go all the way, I needed to come to the point where I could admit that Tracy was right. Again, not necessarily regarding the information, but at least give her credence that her approach to the discussion was just as valid, if not more, than mine.

As a pastor, I am always looking for creative ways to represent God's love to people. What is His part in the salvation story and what is ours?

• Does God come half way and do we meet him in some sort of a compromise agreement?
• Does God randomly pick people upon whom to bestow His love and compassion?
• Is it up to me to do more good works than bad so that He might, just might, let me into heaven?

These are common misconceptions as to how God works and how we are to respond to His gospel. They represent ideas that come naturally to our minds and how we treat each other, so it must be how God, therefore, treats us. But they are all wrong according to what Jesus tells us.

You may be thinking that I just jumped from one topic to another, but how we treat each other is directly related to how we think God treats us and how we treat God. According to the Bible:

• God comes the whole way by loving us unconditionally, providing a way of salvation that is completely undeserved.
• God has offered his love to every member of creation.
• Our acceptance into heaven is more about receiving his gift of salvation and responding with deeds of gratefulness.

So, if I know I am loved in this way, I have no problem admitting when I'm wrong, praising her when she's right and seeking to change my self-righteous attitudes.

• To be loved is to be secure.
• To be loved enables us to drop our defenses.
• To be loved opens us up to new relationships and new ways of relating.

The best part of the story is that we don't have to go seeking after this love. It's already been offered to us through Jesus Christ. He stands with arms open wide inviting us to come home. 

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”Luke 15:20, 31,32