Can I Handle People Disagreeing with Me?

Acts 6:11-12
They secretly induced men…and they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes…

Can I handle people disagreeing with me? In the days of the early church, when Stephen preached the Gospel of Jesus, certain men with different views “rose up and argued” with him (Acts 6:9).
These people had opposing views and they didn’t like that Stephen wasn’t persuaded. In the end, when they couldn’t come to an agreement on these issues, it disturbed these men so much that they “secretly induced men” and “stirred people up” in favor of their side. Rather than letting it go they went on the attack. This attack would end in the murder of godly Stephen (the first martyr for Jesus Christ in history).

Stirring people up is a sure sign of insecurity. When I can’t handle people disagreeing with me I’m insecure. When I respond by gathering people to my “side” it’s a sure mark that I’m not secure on my own two feet – that I need others to tell me I’m right and that the opposing view is wrong. I’m not secure in whatever it is I’m taking a stand on, so I gather others to my side in order to help me feel “right.” With this way of thinking, feeling right takes priority and in order to feel right I would have to get as many people as possible to agree with me and to disagree with the other party.

Stirring people up is a sure sign that I don’t trust God. If God wants to vindicate my views He can. It’s not my job to do so. At least this is the view of the maturing believer. When I take action, rather than “letting go and letting God” it shows that I don’t trust God’s purpose in this for me. In the end, it’s better for me to trust God when I’m shown to be right and when I’m shown to be wrong. It’s better to trust God when I’m right but thought of as wrong. And it’s better to trust God when I’m flat out wrong. He’s making me more like Christ in each of these scenarios.

1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will lift you up in due time.

The next time I have a disagreement with someone I want to give it to God. I don’t want to take it to the people. Let God be Judge, not people. Gathering people to my “side” is evil.

Titus 3:10
As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

I want to be secure enough in Christ that I don’t need people to take my side. I want to be secure enough to be wrong sometimes without gathering others to defend my point of view. (After all, we can always find someone who agrees with anything.) I want to be secure enough to be right sometimes even though nobody knows I am.

A people divided cannot stand. And a people united don’t agree on everything. This philosophy would bring much healing to marriages, churches, governments, and peoples.