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I used to work at a hotel as the front desk clerk. As many who work in customer service may know, you have many types of interactions with many peculiar kinds of people. Some I remember with humor, some I remember and cringe. But I remember one time catching myself having the thought after a particularly rough encounter, “hmmm, I don’t prefer him to some of the other customers.” I remember in that moment realizing I was showing partiality to someone completely based on how I was treated, and it was through the lens of “do I like how they serve me?” My classification on the types of people in the world was those who I enjoy being around, and those whom I don’t.

Now, there are many disclaimers that could be made about this point. And though I don’t believe I was wrong in my observations, I find it helpful, instead, to remind myself in every interaction, “this individual is either a believer or a unbeliever.” I now find this really helpful, because there are some individuals at my current workplace that are especially enjoyable to be around, but who are not in Christ. And at the same time, there are some who are not from my church but are in Christ whom I often find myself not as drawn to because I don’t enjoy my time with them. As I have been thinking through a ‘Theology of Disagreement’, one could argue that practically, I have fostered a greater degree of agreement with the unbeliever then with the believer, because my foundation for unity is actually no longer the gospel, but the same as that of the unbeliever (selfish mutual enjoyment).

Very rarely in those moments do I find I am working from the mindset of either “this person is an unbeliever, and I am to be a witness of God’s holiness”, or that “this person is a believer, and I want to appropriately encourage them towards following after Christ.”

I hope to go into many conversations with this in mind, because it helps set a trajectory, a goal for what I am trying to accomplish in conversations. To cast it in a stronger sense, if I am seeking to be like Christ and maintain disagreements faithfully, an unbeliever should think I have some “rough edges.” Now, obviously, if I am at work and someone asks me to do a task, I don’t practice my theology of disagreement in that moment. We both share a legitimate common employment goal. But as people get more comfortable around me, in the same way I have categorized them as an unbeliever, have I through my interactions, in an appropriate way, made it known I am a believer?

I think this has helped me to stop and assess if I view those around me the way the Bible does: righteous before God because of the atoning work of Christ, or unrighteous? If I practice right thinking on this, it will start to permeate my relationships with them. I will better reflect Christ to those around me when I think about them and treat them the way Scripture says to.