Debate Prep & Life

 


For a short time when I was in high school, my English class formed a "debate team." We would be given a position (whether it was a position we actually agreed with or not didn't matter), and we would have to do our preparation to be able to defend that position. BUT, our English teacher explained, the BEST debate preparation is actually to know the position of your "opponent" so well that you could argue from their side as well.


"Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others." Philippians 2:4


On the surface, I think we often take verses like this to mean, "don't take care of yourself, take care of others." Deep down, we all know that is too simplistic a reading.


There is real depth here, and I think it has a connection to my English teacher's advice.


Very few of us are engaged in academic debates (as my English class was). We are engaged in real life, where there is conflict, hurt feelings, and disagreement. In those everyday life situations that we all face, I believe the passage above is pointing us in a helpful direction.


It reminds us that relationship is always more important than being "right."


Let me pause and say that again, because it is something I need to hear over and over again...


In the Kingdom of God, relationship is always more important than being "right."


Sure, we might have every RIGHT to feel angry...but just because we have the right to feel a certain way doesn't mean it is helpful for us, or for the community.


The wisdom of the passage above is truly a deeper version of the debate prep advice my English teacher gave me. When I make the effort to understand where the other person is coming from, WHY they could have possibly acted the way they did, it honors the presence of God in them. It allows me to "look to their interests," and to offer them the same grace I would want if I had acted in a way that hurt someone else.


Am I my brother’s keeper? Genesis 4:9


Yes. In the Kingdom of God, yes I am my brother's (and sister's) keeper.


Maybe today is an invitation to humility, for all of us...


May God give us the peace, and the vision, to see the presence of Christ in even those with whom we struggle.


May God grant us the courage to let go of the need to be "right" and the strength to choose to be loving instead.


This is deep. This is hard. This is the work of relationship in the Kingdom of God.


PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, you call us to love our neighbors and to serve them. It is not always easy. Help us focus, Father, on our common ground rather than on the ways in which we are different. Remind us that we all are created in your image and that you made us to live in community. Amen.*


*Prayer taken from the Moravian Daily Texts