Inconvenience & Uncomfortability Comes Before Love

Disclaimer: Uncomfortability has mixed reviews on whether or not it’s a real word but we all know what I’m saying.

A few weeks ago, we saw the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision. You’ve seen it all over your timeline. A strong controversial decision that has many digging their heels in and standing their ground. So much so that I’ve seen friends and family splitting. Vowing to never be friends again or to not visit during Christmas. I’ve seen so many posts in the last 48 hours with simple comments of “unfriend me now” or “before I unfriend you, I just want you to know _____.”

Simply because their opinion was different. 

I would go as far to say that it’s not just an opinion that people deny, it’s a worldview. 

The mindset of “my way or the highway” is one that is rooted in deep unwarranted pride and arrogance. It creates a false God-like complexity inside the person’s heart that can easily manifest itself into hatred. 

Let’s just call it what it is. 

It’s hatred. It’s evil. 

It’s trash. 

In 1964 Nelson Mandela was put in prison for having an opinion and worldview that was different.

One that sought equality and opportunities for all.  They (society) broke relationship with him. This is nothing new. There are tons of examples like this. Martin Luther and the reformation, or Rosa Parks are all examples of being beat down by having a different opinion. There are a multitude of stories like this throughout history.

The current mixture of generations has a massive problem. We don’t know how to hold different opinions and still be in relation with people who have an entirely different or opposing opinion and worldview.  Listen. I’m not sayin that is it easy or that it is the most convenient, or comfortable. But it is still necessary. It’s work. Relationships take work. Like marriage, it takes work to do life with someone. Yet far too often we choose comfort. It’s more comfortable to have a timeline that matches our mind, morals, and beliefs. It’s more convenient to have friends that won’t oppose or challenge your thinking. When we cancel relationships based on a different opinion, we are living an anti-gospel life. 

We are essentially attempting to undo the finished work of Christ on the cross with the way that we break relationships. God sent Jesus to reconcile the broken relationship between humanity and Himself but also people with other people. His goal was not to empower us to create our own false Gospel with the cancellations of those with a different mindset. 

The goal is absolutely to love people well. 

But before we can choose love we must choose inconvenience. We must choose to have timelines that look like Fox News and CNN. We must choose to have timelines that say Black Lives Matter and say Blue Lives Matter. Pictures of our Christian friends attending Easter and Christmas service and our non-religious friends living their life outside the church. Democrats and Republicans sharing about their beliefs and convictions.

Before we can love we must choose being uncomfortable. Uncomfortable sitting at the Thanksgiving table at your in-laws surrounded by differing views. Uncomfortable with the idea that someone believes abortion should be a right of a woman and not the government. Really, we need to be deeply uncomfortable and bothered by the fact that we would ever consider breaking relationship with someone when it is unwarranted. That is what should bother us the most.

In conclusion: It’s one thing to remove toxicity from our lives whether personal or social media but it can be a slippery slope that leads to a pit of pride. We can easily use the umbrella of “mental health” or “protecting my peace” to essentially remove anyone that we don’t like, agree with or, have been looking for an excuse to unfriend for a while. Protect your peace. Don’t get bullied or shamed for your opinion, but also when it’s possible, choose the relationship over the confrontation.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8