Have you ever wished you could just ghost someone online rather than reply with the painful answer you know you need to give? If you’ve felt this temptation, let me assure you that you’re not alone—but also encourage you in a better way forward.

Can a friendship last even if you strongly disagree on theological points? Yes, and it should—because it will sharpen both of you.

Have you ever sat across from a friend and felt your theological disagreements strike up between you like a jagged fence? Perhaps it felt like a crack in the foundation of your friendship, and your heart ached a little—from wonder at how she disagreed with you to fears of losing your friend. How do we move forward?

We often struggle in our relationships with believers we disagree with. What if it’s because we’re hanging on so tightly to our disagreements that we are unwilling to find a peaceful place to stand together? How do we learn to stand on the peaceful grounds of the gospel together despite our differences?

I often bristle at corrections from fellow believers who point out point out my faults, failures, or sins. My natural tendency (and probably yours too) is to be defensive. However, this doesn’t need to be our only reaction. God’s Word shows us another way.

With the admonition to be slow to speak should come the caveat, Be slow to assume. Our relationships within the church could be more unified if we remember the grace and charity we have been shown by Christ, who knew the depths and sins of our hearts, and seek to show charity to one another in our assumptions of each others words and motives.

It hurts when someone we love is hurting. We love them, and we wish we could simply dust away their pain and chuck it out the door. But we are meant to be a part of the body. As a fellow part of the body, I am not meant to fix another. I can’t take away that pain, and to believe I can minimizes their suffering. 

How do we encourage and counsel one another in killing sin? We avoid becoming graceless judges, be a merciful siblings, and dodge vicious dogs and trampling pig. 

Have you ever compared your suffering with the suffering of others? My grief isn’t as bad as hers. Yet your suffering is minimized, and true sorrow is neglected rather than tended to.

Do you already feel like a failure when you see the put-together moms around you? Aside from my fears of throwing up, I have many other reasons to feel like a failure compared to my fellow mom friends. But God is giving me a new hope in him, and teaching me to stop looking around at others and start looking at him.

In the universal church and the local church we are going to come across fellow believers that we clash with. People will annoy us, hurt us, and make us angry. Can we love them and not like them? We are called to not only love some of our fellow brothers and sisters, but to love each and every one.