Devotional

Offering Grace to Your Neighbor When You Don’t See Eye-to-Eye

With so much going on globally, love is needed. Where are you with it?

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As You, Spirit, sit with me in my qualm, help me to offer grace to my neighbor, even if we don’t see eye-to-eye. Have mercy on us, Lord. Please, have mercy.

It’s not very simple when your mind and heart get tangled with emotions. And, as you venture into the Scriptures, it can potentially lead to confusion as you sit with your mind, heart, and soul. The confusion can come from your lived experiences, especially if you have experienced trauma.

I remember years ago when visiting my mother’s church, a pastor was leading a Bible Study before service and we decided to attend. He started off by saying, “When you begin talking about theology with someone else, you have to realize that with two people there are two different theologies.”

I quickly glanced around the room, doing an estimated head count. Ok, I thought, there are about 40 different theologies just sitting in this room.

And then I attended Portland Seminary and as I journeyed through my academic experience of achieving a Master’s degree in Spiritual Formation, I learned that this previous pastor’s statement was so true!