During my last few years as a trainer, I met a retired university professor with advanced degrees in entomology and biology. I recruited him to present training classes for some seminars sponsored by our regional pest control association. He and I couldn’t have been farther apart on our political or religious views. I was a Christian and he was a “devout” atheist. While I was serving in the Air Force overseas, he was in graduate school on the Berkley campus of the University of California and leading protests against the military and our involvement in Viet Nam. He shared his philosophy with me, “Each of us view the world through a unique lens created by our personal experiences, relationships and our reaction to them. Conflict occurs when we can’t understand why someone else cannot see what we see.” On a human level, that certainly makes sense. But how do we avoid such conflict?
He and I avoided conflict by agreeing to disagree on our differences without further discussion and then we concentrated on our mutual interest in pest management and the environment. It was one of the few times the Holy Spirit prompted me not to share my testimony. That professor had spent decades building up defenses against God and forming a stereotype of believers. Any mention of God or Jesus would have triggered a reflex action of his superior intellect and distain for believers. Instead, I simply showed him through my words and actions that I did not fit his stereotypical idea of a Christian.
In other, less divisive situations with non-believers, the Holy Spirit has prompted me to share my experiences as a Christian with love and humble gratitude; and without any condemnation. If they are seeking, they will ask questions and that could lead to them accepting Jesus Christ. If not, just let the seed you planted sprout within them and begin to change their view of their relationship with God. But always show them through your words and actions the fruit of the Spirit as well.
In our relationships with other Christians, we might assume that because we have the same Spirit within us that we see the world exactly the same. That assumption is false. I have many very dear brothers and sisters in Christ and not one of them sees the world exactly as I do. Their experiences, relationships and their reaction to them have shaped their lens. Each have their own sensitivities and issues that trigger painful memories. The difference is that each of us can also see ourselves and the world around us as God sees us with the help of the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t erase our differences, but it does minimize them and give us a common perspective of our Heavenly Father and our brothers and sisters.
The real truth that my professor friend missed is that while we are still in our mother’s womb (before our first experience, relationship or reaction) God created each of us as a unique human being. Those things add to the mix to make us who we are, but it goes deeper than that. God’s love, mercy and grace through the life, death and resurrection of His Son apply to every one of His children, but His relationship with each of us is personal and as unique as we are, because God knows us better than we know ourself. Isn’t that awesome?