Agree to Disagree

We all have had disagreements. We are likely in a disagreement with someone right now. But many of us would agree that we don’t like to be in a disagreement. Disagreements are natural, they come easier to some than to others and it’s easy to label any disagreement as bad, often because it produces anxiety, anger, or hurt feelings. But a disagreement in a pure form is an example of two people with different passionate convictions and when two people strive for a reconciliation or compromise to a disagreement with love and an open mind, it can often lead to a compounded positive effect.

I’ve yet to reach a level of maturity to consistently approach disagreements this way, but thankfully the Lord provides an example in our weekly scripture, Acts 15:36-41. After having spent the better part of several years together, Paul and Barnabas decide to set off on another missionary journey. Undoubtedly their hearts are filled with the Holy Spirit but how to begin this journey places them at a crossroads. We see them in “a sharp disagreement” over if they should take John Mark who left them during their first missionary journey.

On the first read of this passage, it can come across that they parted company on uneven terms, each not giving in to the other’s wishes. However, you can see God’s hand in the aftermath. From this disagreement, we now have two powerful missionary teams, Paul with Silas and Barnabus with John Mark, go on separate journeys but preaching the same Gospel. We also see a person in John Mark be given a second chance, one he seems to run with as he later authors the book of Mark and becomes vital to Paul’s ministry. We see the growth of Silas who is eventually jailed with Paul for preaching the Good News.

It would appear then that Paul and Barnabus may have agreed to disagree in their traveling companion, but they knew each other’s hearts. Perhaps a lesson can be to try to see through the cloud of conflicting opinion to the heart, often from there we can compromise and reach that positive effect God strives for us to make.

- Alex Pfister