Stop Avoiding People You Don’t Like | Romans 14:1-12 | Crossroads Daily

I was just thinking about the richness of conversation when you have people who disagree or think about things differently. Like this one is so silly. But people have such strong opinions on what subject certain color folders go with. So. Do we? Yes. Red is math. Red is math. What? Red is math. Why? Yeah, green is obviously science. And then yellow is where it gets dicey. I believe yellow is history. Whatever. This is so silly. But like. This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people. Just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Welcome to Crossroads Daily. My name is Caleb. I'm Caroline. I'm Chris. I'm Victor. And we're still trucking through the book of Romans.

We're in Romans chapter 14 today. The first half of Romans chapter 14. And my summary is Paul does not care about your freedom, especially if it's gonna mess up the kingdom of God. Right? He does not have time for your personal choices to destroy what God is doing. Right? I was thinking about this. I kind of got the image of like a quilt. Okay, so I'm a country boy from like central Kentucky, small town, right? We can hear it. I know about quilts. We can hear it in your voice. Country boy. Can you say quilt again? Quilts. And a quilt, as you know, I'm sure you know, you know, it's pieced together from lots of different types of fabric. And what makes it beautiful is that the two fabrics beside each other are not the same, right? It would look dumb if they were all the same. It wouldn't look right. Or if two were the same and then two, you know, whatever. It's the differences that give it strength. I'm sure we're all aware of places where differences tore it apart. But can we think of somewhere

where differences help add strength? Have you been part of a group? Have you been part of a church? Have you been part of a team at work where the differences actually led to strengths not to ripping it apart? And what was it like to be there? This makes me think of two things. First, I'm gonna go nerd for a little bit, very briefly. I used to be an engineer. I used to make diapers for a living. One of the things that I will learn like scientifically is when you're putting two things together that are different, the bonding mechanism, what brings them together, it matters a lot. And usually when these products would fail, be in that place. When I think of different things coming together, I think Jesus has the bond. That one is an unbreakable bond. Now we try sometimes to pull in different directions, try to make a break because of preference, because of whatever else. And I am encouraged that that's how it is in the spiritual realm with Jesus. So that's one thing. That was me thinking through my engineering days. But on a today practical day, I find myself in many places being different

in different aspects, like culturally different than for example, all of you here. I'm from Puerto Rico, different language, different culture. And it's easy for me sometimes to feel, man, I just wish certain things would be different and want to see the other parts of that quilt. Quilt, I don't know how to say it, like you say it. Maybe like those differences are very noticeable. And almost to the point I'm like, man, is this piece that I bring, does it matter? Is it contributing? And what I've learned with time is that being in this space has been a constant instrument that God has used to humble me, to remind me that it doesn't matter much how you look on the outside, God matters what's in the inside. And so when you use that analogy, that's what makes me think. Like we're the ones trying to break that bond, oftentimes with Jesus unbreakable. And sometimes we're too focused on how it looks versus I think God cares more about the inside. Yeah, I need like another 10 minutes to talk about diaper science with you. Yeah, happy to. That's wild, I had no idea that. The thing that came to mind was much less like sciency or even like related to what I look like or how my friend groups are made up. But I was just thinking about the richness of conversation

when you have people who disagree or think about things differently. Like those are some of the most fun conversations that you get to be a part of, right? Because I can think this one is so silly, but people have such strong opinions on what subject certain color folders go with. So. Do we? Yes. Red is math. Red is math. What? Red is math. Wow. Why? Yeah. Green is obviously science. And then yellow is where it gets dicey. I believe yellow is history. Whatever. This is so silly. But like heated conversations about things, I find really fun because you get to learn so much more about people and oftentimes our disagreements can bring us together and then you find the things that you do agree on. So that's like a very surface level answer to your question. But I'm just thinking about even conversations in some of my friend groups. I was arguing with a couple of my girlfriends the other day over whether or not Sandlot was an appropriate movie for our five-year-olds to be watching. And we were all just like cracking up in the conversation because she was like so vehemently

against it. And then I was like, it's one of the best movies of all time. This is great. Hands down. And I'm OK with my kids saying, you bobbed for apples in the toilet and you like it. That's hilarious and fun. But I just think like the richness of conversation comes, I think, when people are bringing different perspectives into it. I think if we were to go, you know, 30 levels deeper, the same is true in the kingdom of God. Like, and the things that matter, matter. And the things that don't, don't. But it creates a richness in relationship that I think is really important. Absolutely. Don't ask me why I know this, but I was researching sharpening knives once about a year ago. And when you use a knife, like even though you can't see it, like on a microscopic level, it gets like little, it gets jaggedy, kind of like a, like a mountain peak or whatever. And so sharpening it is you take something that in friction, you rub against it and it like flattens it out, right? It shaves off the mountain peak so it can cut again. So it's sharp. And so we all need people like who are not just like us, right? To help sharpen our knife so that it cuts again. Our knife being our life, right? So who are people that do that for you? Who comes to mind? Someone who doesn't, he's not your yes man. I mean, a yes man or woman is fun because it's easy, but it is not helpful, right? It doesn't change you. It doesn't sharpen you.

Who are people in your life that do that for you? My husband. For sure. How so? How so? Oh man. I think we are a great team, but we're a great team because we bring such differences of opinion and thought into things. And then we ended up making decisions together, but he's going to be the first person to call me out on my attitude, on my pride, on, I mean, yeah, all of those things. He's one of the few people that I trust the most to call me out in my own sin, but also sometimes it's not calling me out in sin. It's just challenging my perspective on things that, because he wants to make me better and I trust him in that. So, um, and then also it's like very annoying at the same time. Everyone who's married could probably say their spouse because they see like that messed up side of us and, uh, they're not afraid to jump in the fray with us. So now you can't say your spouse. Okay. I don't know. Reset the thinking. Who else? Who else helped sharpen you and how? I think of my friend, Ricky from college, that we are different in most every way. Our backgrounds are different. So many things about us are different, but we, the Lord, I feel like brought us together as friends to the point where like, there's times where I've been hesitant to go to him for like wisdom or counsel. Cause I'm like, I know he's going to say probably the opposite of what I'm feeling or thinking with this.

And that's probably good for me, but I don't want to hear it. And to what we're talking about with bonding, like, I feel like it's so crucial that at the end of the day, the Lord is the one that anchors it because difference is great. If the bonding is with Jesus is what I've learned because my flesh is like, I want to run away from this hard conversation or this person who is rubbing against my natural thoughts. And so I'm like, I feel like the more I press into Jesus with it, the more I see it as a good, beautiful thing when someone thinks differently than me or acts differently. We've got a common thing that binds us together. And I think I see it really clear in verse eight, we belong to the Lord, right? What other differences we have at the heart. We all belong to the Lord. I'm a challenge for you today is to find somebody who's not like you, different race, different age, different gender, different socioeconomic status, whatever. And just, just engage them, right? Have a 10 minute conversation, have a 15 minute conversation. Don't prove yourself right. Don't prove anything. Listen, engage. I believe God might meet you in that conversation because we're stronger because of our differences. We'll see you next time.