100 percent, 100 percent of the Time
by Brandy Webb
The other night my husband and I were talking, and he said that there was something that hit him that made him stop to think about for a while. I asked him what it was. He stated that he realized that there wasn’t anyone that he agreed with 100 percent, 100 percent of the time. What stopped him was the realization that I was included. Honestly, it didn’t really come as a surprise to me because we don’t agree all the time. However, it did get me to contemplate this truism.
I discerned that it is probably impossible to agree with someone 100 percent even 90 percent of the time. The problem is that we are humans, and we make mistakes. Therefore, we are not always going to agree with each other. In fact, I doubt that there is a church out there where the members agree with the ministers 100 percent, 100 percent of the time because ministers are human, and they will make mistakes.
I also started wondering if we agree with God 100 percent, 100 percent of the time. We know that He is all-knowing, but we do not know all there is to know. Therefore, sometimes we question Him when we face various trials. It is human. We are not perfect. However, even Moses debated with God, especially when God wanted to destroy Israel (Exodus 32:11-14). Moses pleaded with God to not destroy Israel, and it states that “the Lord changed His mind” (Exodus 32:14). There are also some stories in the Bible that I am, like, I totally do not understand why that happened. However, there is one being that not only agrees with God 100 percent, 100 percent of the time as a spirit being, He agreed with God the Father, even as a human. Jesus did not do anything against the will of God (John 5:19, 6:38; 8:16). Thus, this is one major reason why He sits at the right hand of God. Neither one of them will ever do anything that the other one would not want done. They are completely one in will and action, agreeing with each other 100 percent, 100 percent of the time.
I am sure that in God’s Kingdom we will find that we are more in tune with each other. I doubt we will have moments of disagreement. However, we live in this world right now, so what do we do with this awareness that we aren’t always going to agree with each other? It depends on how we handle it. We have two choices; we can either be immature Christians or mature Christians.
Immature Christians get angry with each other when they disagree. Friendships end. Churches split. Contentions rise, and unity falls. Gossip reigns, and love dissolves. What is left is a lot of hurt, bitterness, and brokenness. This is what Satan desires to happen. He does not want to see us unified.
Mature Christians, on the other hand, behave very differently. They esteem others better than themselves (Philippians 2:3). They honor others (Romans 12:10). They are humble when disagreements happen (Philippians 2:3). They pause and contemplate another’s opinion, and if they find out that they are in the wrong, they apologize (Ephesians 4:32). Mature Christians also forgive when someone who has wronged them apologizes (Mark 11:25). Mature Christians grow in maturity (1 Peter 2:1-3; 2 Peter 3:18). They do not ever think they are always right, and they are willing to continue learning (Romans 12:3). They also understand that “iron sharpening iron” (Proverbs 27:17) is best done in love and truth, not in attacks and discord.
The truth is, we are all fallible creatures. None of us know everything. We must strive to not act like we do. I can’t count how many times I thought I understood something to find out once again, I was wrong. Therefore, we may not be able to agree 100 percent, 100 percent of the time, but we can agree to love each other despite our differences. We can treat each other the way we want to be treated. We can show that even though we are all different, together we can be a body. So rejoice when you do agree with someone and be patient when you don’t.