Listening to those with whom we disagree rather than being dismissive—and listening with the goal of understanding rather than merely arguing—can help us as we seek to understand and love those around us.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. . . . Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.”
Listening to those with whom we disagree rather than being dismissive—and listening with the goal of understanding rather than merely arguing—can help us as we seek to understand and love those around us, and as we seek how better to live out and communicate the gospel in our world.
It’s easy to belittle those who have different religious, moral, or political views. In doing so, however, we build barriers that may prevent people from hearing us. Instead, we might follow Paul’s example, trying to understand those who hold different views, and looking for evidence of spiritual hunger, or wisdom, or for work God is already doing in their lives.
One of the Athenian myths Paul learned about and referred to in his sermon was of an unknown god who forgave the people of Athens through the sacrifice of innocent sheep—and not because they somehow earned forgiveness through virtuous lives. That message, coming though it did from a pagan myth, sounds a lot like the gospel story of grace Paul was trying to convey! In fact, it may have been closer to the gospel than the attempts by many Jewish believers of Paul’s day to obtain salvation through the Law.
David O’Hara’s sermon on Acts 17: “At the heart of [Athens] was already a sign to them of the love of wisdom, of human sin, of the bondage of the law, and of the grace and healing of God.”
When somebody expresses a belief or idea that differs from yours on an issue you consider important—for example religious, moral, or political ideas—is your first instinct to argue with them? To stop listening? Or to try to understand them?
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