What is it to be right-minded?

We live in a country where free speech is a “right.”  In our culture today many people think that speaking anything and everything that comes to mind is okay.  It is their right!  However, it is important to understand that with rights comes responsibilities. 

There are logical expressions communicated and then there are emotional expressions communicated.  It is often the emotional expressions that get us into trouble but that is not to say that emotional expressions are wrong.  Fired up emotions can be expressed without a lot of thought behind them.  True confession, I am a person who can ride the fence in either direction. 

My mother used to tell me when I was younger (and she repeated it often) that I should think before I speak.  Didn’t my mom know that thinking before we speak takes time? 

When we feel strongly about something we often just want to get it out there no matter what the reaction or feelings of others may be.  We want others to know I got a problem with the issue and they need to hear about it.  After all, my thinking is the right thinking (in my logical opinion). 

Sometimes we get emotional about something because we either cannot believe someone else doesn’t think the way they do, or we feel attacked by what we just heard.  But here are some considerations to think about.

First and foremost, God created each and every one of us in His image and likeness, meaning we were built to love.  To do otherwise is encouraged by the evil one who hates God and hates us.  Jesus summed up two of the greatest commandments to help keep it simple.  Number one: The Lord our God is God alone, We shall love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul, and all our strength.  Number two: We shall love our neighbor as ourselves.

If we are to love as these two commandments call us to do than our responsibility is to communicate with each other with the greatest respect.  There is no greater issue or mission on this earth than to live those two commandments.  We also know God made us different with each other so why wouldn’t we have different perspectives on topics? 

It is easy to see how heated, disrespectful, and emotional responses to each other will get us nowhere.  Polarization is a term often used to describe that.  It is up to each of us to raise our standards and maintain an attitude of treating each other with dignity even if we disagree with each other.  Another responsibility we have is to listen to and ask questions of others so we can better understand their thinking.  It is not about listening long enough to pick the other person’s comments apart and prepare a rebuttal.

There is a saying that says, “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.”  We each have a life story with many exposures and events that influence how we think and act.  When we take time to ask questions we can better understand where the other person is coming from and what influences their thinking.  We can have a more meaningful discussion and hopefully learn from each other.  This takes time and requires us to be respectful with each other.  It is a demonstration of self-respect and honoring God’s commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. 

The end result may be that we have to agree to disagree.  However, sincerely wanting to understand the other person’s thinking will demonstrate that you care enough to hear the reasoning of their perspective.   

Years ago I was a member of an advisory board to an organization consisting of twenty-one people.  These twenty-one people came from many various backgrounds and interests.  This group had agreed at their onset that no recommendation would be made to the leader (that we were organized to advise) unless there was complete consensus.  That meant everyone had to agree on and support the recommendation of the group before it was presented.  When this agreement was made everyone thought it was a very good idea.  Then various topics came before the board and some were very controversial. 

When the first hot topic came before them they had to discuss a process for revealing and dialoging on the different perspectives.  Clearly there were people on the board who had very different opinions about the topic.  Once the process was identified and acted upon it then came to evaluating the various considerations to propose.  This group was amazing as they respectfully listened to each other and their various concerns and begin to formulate a single solution to advise our leader.  It was an incredible lesson of respect and patience as the many dialogues took place giving everyone time to ponder the different perspectives.  The final recommendation would affect thousands of people in the future.  I might add that prayer was a big part of the process as well as we called on the Holy Spirit to feed us with His wisdom.

Being right-minded calls us to Recognize and Respect every individual as a creation of God.  When we unleash our tongue we should make sure that our comments are respectful and we have thought them through before commenting.  Consider the topic from a big picture/principle perspective and not making it all about me and my rights. 

When Jesus endured His passion and death we never heard Him once exclaim He had rights.  Yet He was guilty of nothing.  The principle, the big picture He lived and died for was His sacrifice for you and me so that we may be saved.  His speaking out was done in His teachings as He taught us all how to live our lives fruitfully.  As He demonstrated, sometimes we are better to stay silent and be responsible to our mission of love.  He is the ultimate example of being right-minded.  Let us Shine Like the Son for His path is the path to heaven.  God bless you!