Last week I had the chance to go to a pastors' conference.  It was a lot of fun and I got to catch up with a few friends in the area that I have seen for a while.  One is my friend Bob.  We went through seminary together and he is down in Moorpark.  Well, we were in a group of people that we had never met before and we were to answer a few questions on the topic of a presentation.  Well, we argued like we hated each other...I flat out called him a jerk in front of anyone.  It was great!  We've got a long history and an deep understanding that even disagreeing (or the occasional juvenile name-calling) will keep us from being friends.  Everyone else in our group thought that we were going to strangle each other until we started laughing (after I called him a jerk). 

It just made me think about how we, as Christians, can appear to others.  I think that we need to be able to argue and fight with each other, especially if it is for proper understanding of the Gospel.  What's most important though is not the fight, but the understanding that even if you disagree with a fellow Christian...you are still brothers and sisters....there is a deeper love and understanding that should be present at all times (even if you call a fellow Christian a "jerk" or "cookiehead" or "funnyface").  This also means that this is not how we are to minister to those outside of church.  We're not there to argue and prove people wrong.  We're there to bring people grace, mercy, and the love of Christ.  Sometimes that means that we have to just shut up and listen to someone (even if we think they are wrong).  Christ was a brilliant listener and a bad interupteror (is that a word?).  He always had an answer, but, honestly, most of his answers were just questions anyways.  Let us, seek that same attitude towards our friends and neighbors who don't know Christ.  Let us not be name callers, but listeners and grace-givers.