"I don't agree with that"

​You’re ready! You have laid out all the best arguments to someone. The point is clear. The truth has been stated. There’s no way they can respond. And you eagerly await their affirmation of your persuasive words as they are forced to admit you’re right. 

And then comes the reply. “I don’t agree with that.”

Wow! What a comeback! How in the world did you not prepare for that amazing response? The world’s best debater couldn’t have raised a response superior to the masterpiece you just witnessed!

Ok, not at all. Stating “I don’t agree with that” is probably the most ridiculous, irrational, prideful, illogical, and lazy way to dismiss an argument you’re losing. It’s not an actual response. If I said that in a debate round, I would lose right then and there.

But many times we do it anyway. Not just because we are lazy, but because we don’t want to accept the implications of the Truth.

This is not the way we should live our lives. We should not have a heart that is hardened to outside influence - one that stubbornly refuses to learn, change, or grow. A hard heart is not a healthy heart. We should be open to change.

At this point I would like to make a clarification. I am not telling you to merely have an open mind to any idea. Minds that are totally open tend to have a lot of trash fall in them. We should certainly evaluate arguments and weigh them on their actual merits against the Truth we already know. I am not asking you to open your mind to me but to open your heart to God. Let Him have the key to the door of your heart. Read the Bible without a grain of salt, seeking only to properly interpret and apply it to your life.

Over the past week, I have been reading through C.S. Lewis’s classic book Mere Christianity. It’s a great book that I highly recommend to anyone who hasn’t read it yet. In it, Lewis calls out the likely attitude of his readers as he finishes a controversial chapter dealing with politics. He writes
​"that brings us right up against the real snag in all this drawing up in blueprints for Christian society. Most of us are not really approaching the subject in order to find out what Christianity says: we are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party. We are looking for an ally were we are offered either a Master or - a Judge… And that is why nothing whatever is going to come of such talks unless we go a much longer way round." (Lewis 82).

Too often, we don’t approach the bible or a sermon looking for something we need to change but rather waiting for affirmation of what we already believe. No matter what we hear, we are going to walk out of the meeting essentially the same as when we went it.

I certainly am not exempt from this attitude. I felt it myself while reading that very chapter. But it’s an attitude all of us need to recognize and reject. We should not try to fit our ideas into the Bible but rather shape our ideas using it. We should start with what God says, not what our own heart concocts.

When God is speaking to you, listen! Don’t try to end a losing argument with Him by simply saying “I don’t agree with that.”