As Christians, we are not going to agree about everything. No two Christians agree or will agree on every point of doctrine or practice. Yet we are commanded, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” How can we have unity if we do not agree about everything? We must agree to disagree agreeably. One of the main desires of Jesus in his High Priestly Prayer (the climax of his parting words to his disciples) was that they would all be one, or unified. Jesus did not pray, “Father, I will that you make all of my followers agree about everything.”

It must always be said that there are times when we must separate from other believers. If a professing Christian is living in public, unrepented of sin we must call it what it is and not associate ourselves with that person. If someone says that they are a Christian and deny that Jesus is the only way to salvation, love demands that we renounce the teaching of that person and disassociate ourselves with them. However, in both of these and similar instances, we are to “speak the truth in love.” We are to express our disapproval with patience, kindness, a broken heart, mercy, and a free invitation for full reconciliation if that person repents, such as the father as the prodigal son did. 

It seems that God has so designed every set of siblings with the exact opposite personality traits, strengths/weaknesses, etc. Why has God done this? Perhaps one of the reasons is that He wants every home to be training grounds on how to deal with people much different that ourselves. Why would we expect the church of God to be designed any differently? In fact, is not the church meant to be the light of the world? Are we not here to show the world what mercy and reconciliation looks like? Shouldn’t we expect that God would bring us into more difficult situations of disagreement in order for the fruits of the Spirit to be produced in our lives? Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance are the kind of things that we need to strive for among people we disagree with, not too much among those that we do agree with. 

“In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity.” This really is a great saying. I think the great difficulty lies in the definition of what is “essential” or not. We must draw the line somewhere. But the point of this particular article is not where we should draw the line, but when we do draw the line in the sand, it should be done after prayer, and conversation, and brotherly admonition. There should be benefit of the doubt. There should be every effort on our part to discern a way for us to maintain sweet fellowship, if at all possible, with those we disagree with, and at the same time not be partnering with something that will mar the reputation of Jesus.