25. We're Focused on the Wrong Thing: How to Respond Better When We Disagree

In this episode of Courageous Retirement, host Vona Johnson discusses the importance of being intentional about the issues we focus on as Christians. Inspired by a quote from a well-known comedian, Vona explores how we can shift our focus from disagreements to responding with love and understanding. She explores love, not in the worldly sense by ignoring sin, but the kind wrapped in truth and forgiveness.

She emphasizes the significance of relying on the Bible for truth and provides practical steps to ensure we walk the path Jesus would have us walk and responding to disagreements the way He would have us respond.

Vona also introduces ClubMore, an unconventional, loosely knit community of people who pledge to seek more of Christ in their lives. 

Subscribe to Courageous Retirement on Vona's YouTube channel or your favorite podcast location as she encourages you to have the courage to live a life of purpose and love during this incredible retirement season.

00:00 Introduction and Meme Reflection
00:21 The Importance of Focus for Christians
00:58 Understanding Different Perspectives
04:20 The Role of the Bible in Finding Truth
06:46 Living and Sharing God's Love
13:16 Invitation to Club More
14:12 Practical Steps to Engage Faith
16:47 Conclusion and Upcoming Episode

"What is Truth?" Blog

Scripture referenced:
Luke 22: 39-53 Jesus agonizes in the Garden and is arrested

Join ClubMore at ClubMore.Live

Thank you for stopping by today! Remember to Engage Your Faith and Live Your More as you reap the benefits of Courageous Retirement!

To watch the video, check out my YouTube Channel!

Learn more about the show, author Vona Johnson, and more at CourageousRetirement.com!

Schedule a free 15 minute Your Path to More call with Vona.

Transcript

Vona Johnson: 0:00

Recently I saw a meme. It was a quote from Wanda Sykes, and although I pretty much disagreed with everything she said in the post, I completely agreed with her punchline, which was, we're focusing on the wrong things. Now, she didn't say things. Today I'm gonna go into why. I agree with the fact that we're focusing on the wrong things and what we as Christians can do about that because there's a lot of things we don't agree with in this world. I think we need to shift our focus, I look forward to sharing with you some of the things that God has laid on my heart around this topic. Do you fear? What lies beyond retirement? What if it's a gateway to a life filled with purpose, meaning, and adventure rather than an end? Discover peace and fulfillment as you boldly enter this new chapter in Courageous Retirement, a Christian podcast. I'm your host, author, and coach Vona Johnson. Let's get started. Basically her post, the one that got me really fired up, said,"until a drag queen walks into a school and beats eight kids to death with a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird, I think you're focusing on all the wrong. I did a little bit of research, not a lot. And I can tell you that from what I've researched, this is kind of her thing and she must do a whole routine on that, and that's fine. I think that she appeals to a lot of people. I personally don't agree with many of the things that she stands for based on the research I did. But that's not the point. And actually, maybe it is the point because. I think that there are people out there that would step back and call her names for disagreeing with and taking the stances that she does on transgenders and book bans and all of those things. And the whole point of my conversation today is I think we're focused on the wrong thing, even though I disagree. With her stance on those things. I think it's really important that we think about how we respond to the people that we disagree with. There are so many issues in the world that we, even as Christians disagree on. Uh, we are so polarized in so many things, and we've gotten to the point where I. Whether, whatever side of the issue, whether it's abortion or transgenderism, L-G-B-T-Q, books, there are so many things that we disagree on, but I think we're missing a huge opportunity as we, we look at this issue. So there's a lot of evil in this world, and Satan has been having a heyday. I think it's important to realize that his goal is to get rid of all of us. And if we can buy off on the let's kill each other, then he doesn't have to work so darn hard. Right. I think part of the problem that is the root of all of this is that we don't know what we don't know. We all. Believe in the things that we believe in based on our experiences in life. Beginning from, from a very small child. We make stories up in our hearts and in our minds about things that are happening to us. And then we look for things that, confirm that belief about ourselves and about other things. Since we don't know what we don't know, sometimes we're believing in things that may or may not be true. Now, I'm gonna tell you right now that I would never intentionally lie to you. I'm always gonna tell the truth. I'm about integrity and I'm about truth and a lot of other things, but those are really integral into who I believe that I am. But the reality is, is that I only know what I've been exposed to, but I've come to this huge realization that in a world full of lies and fake truth and. Social media and the actual media out there trying to skew our thoughts and, and get everybody to buy off on what they believe is true. We have to be really careful and we have to be careful who we listen to. Not only do our parents believe things that may or may not be true, but we have church leaders and our mentors at work, and our friends, all kinds of people have been led down the wrong path. Shoot. Adam and Eve were led down the wrong path from the very get go. Right? So there's only one thing, and I'm, I know that I'm preaching to the choir here, but I've got a reason for this, but there's only one thing that we can really believe in, and that is the Bible. Now, think about that for a minute. I think only 4% of all the Christians in the world believe that the Bible is 100% accurate. They go through, and they pick and choose the things that they wanna believe. Well, not only that, but it's a really big book. So in reality. They may not intentionally be picking and choosing, but we haven't been exposed to all of the different things that we need. God gives us what we need when we need it. All of our experiences in life are accumulating to create us into the person that he wants us to be. Now we're gonna go down some wrong paths. I've believed things that were not correct before. Even in my coaching journey. There were things that I coached on. I was taught in my coaching curriculum that I now look back and go, Hmm, that was, that was kind of new age. That was a little woo woo. I wouldn't necessarily do that today. But the point is, that's all I knew at the time. I was believing and trusting the person, the people that were, were training me to become this coach. Now, was that a mistake? Maybe, but I don't think so. I think God exposes us to things that may or may not be exactly the truth because it makes us more aware for one, and it also helps us to understand others who may be believing things that aren't exactly true. So if we can buy off on and agree that the Bible is 100% accurate, then that is where we go to for truth. A year ago, March 27th, 2024, I wrote a blog what is Truth, I thought it was really interesting because when you think about when Jesus was going through the trial, when they took him to Pontius Pilot, Pontius Pilot, the man who was questioning. The word Jesus the truth. Asked him what is truth? It's ironic that truth was standing there before him. Pilate asked him the question, gave him the opportunity, and Jesus was silent. Now, I think that there are times when we are gonna have the opportunity to share the truth that we know the Bible says, and there are gonna be times when. I think the Holy Spirit is going to ask us to be silent, to wait for a better opportunity because when we speak truth, we need to speak truth in love, and there's not always going to be the opportunity to do that. So the reality is, that we we're all sinners. We have our chosen sins and there are other sins that people are living in that we are just appalled at. But the reality is, is that they're still God's children and there's still an opportunity for them to repent of those sins. But if we that know that truth and know that don't bring them in and love them right where they are and show them God's love. We are never gonna get across with that message. Courageous retirement isn't about going off and sailing across the world or skydiving. You heard me say this before. Courageous retirement is speaking truth in love to those who God brings into our lives. And those of us who have been around the block a few times often have a better opportunity to speak that truth into people. And I think we miss that opportunity a lot. And so I'm hoping that when you walk away from this conversation, you will realize that. The next time somebody comes to you with a problem or you have a grandchild or a child who is struggling or have walked away. You can love them to the point that they know that they can trust you and they can come to you with that challenge. Or if they never come back to you. And sadly, there are people in this broken world who have separated themselves, separated their lives from the, the people that God gave them to help them. But they've walked away because they were so offended by something that somebody said, Satan really won there, didn't he? But we can pray that God will bring somebody else to share that truth with them. So it's like this just big woven interconnection of all of us. But if we are calling people names, if we're, I mean, I've talked about this, I've been so frustrated on social media by the horrible things that people are saying about other people who they love. I have read posts from people that I admire greatly and have been brokenhearted because of the things that they said about people who believe what I believe. They didn't say it to me directly, but they were saying it about me because that's what I believe. And the hateful way that they reacted to that piece of news or that event, made me wanna unfriend them, made me wanna cancel. And then that would make me just exactly what they have been doing in the world. And there I am. See I'm even doing it right now and I'm trying to talk against it, but it's they them, and we need to. I just want us to all take a step back and take a deep breath and think about when we see those comments, rather than running the other way or responding in anger, maybe we just stop and we just pray. But if we know God and we know that he is there, we know that that's the most powerful gift and tool we have to help bring others to him. I always love to say that we don't know that the person in front of us that we're praying for might be the next Saul. And the word that we say to them may trigger something in their heart, and they will turn to Jesus. They will turn to the Bible. Not in that moment, but at another moment. And they might be the next Paul out there sharing with the world. We just don't know that. So I just encourage you to really think about the next time you wanna re respond to a post or, or somebody in front of you in anger and call them names. I know nobody wants to do that, but it happens. I just want you to again, stop and take a breath and, and question whether that's really the best way to respond. I just recently read this when I was going through some of my devotions and I read the story about the agony that Jesus went through in the garden. He was praying and was talking to God. First of all. He took a couple of his disciples with him and asked them to, to stay up and watch for them, and they kept falling asleep. Like, really? Jesus needed them in that moment, and they were over there sleeping. But remember he was praying to God and he was sweating blood. He was so tormented by what he knew was coming and he was asking God if there was any way that. God would take that cup from him. And then a few minutes later when Judas showed up with the people who were going to persecute Jesus and take him to trial, Jesus just walked up and allowed Judas to, to kiss him. But Peter. Remember Peter got so angry, he took out his sword and he cut off one of the young men's ears there. He responded in anger and Jesus responded and said, no, no, Peter, don't you know, he, he healed that young man and he, he made the comment that those that live by the sword will die by the sword. He did not want us to respond in violence and anger. Ironically, you know, Peter was then the one who denied Christ just shortly after, and I think that that's us. We are, you know, we're defending him and everything in one minute, and the next minute we're denying him. And so I'm just asking you to think about how we can let go of some of that anger that we have. I mean, think about it. What if God. He's less concerned about whether we're right or wrong on all these divided issues that are out there, and he's more concerned with how we respond to the people that he has in front of us. That's a big what if, isn't it? In my podcast, longing for More, I created 175 episodes talking about what our soul longs for. And then truly, you know, it's like we try to fill these, these. Longings in our soul, our longings in our heart for everything. What really, all that our souls long for is more. Jesus I could tell you all the stories, but I'm not gonna tell you them all here because they're, they're in those episodes of longing for more. But it's the basis for. All the work that I do, I talk about how we need to engage our faith and live our more, and I know that there are people out there that do long for more, and so I created Club more. And it's really just, it's a pledge and it's a pledge to seek more of Christ in our life. It's all about how we have something missing in our life. How once we start realizing that it's Jesus, we start to create order in our life. Then we start redefining our priorities to have more of Jesus in our life, and then we start to live for our eternal purpose. We start to live our more. That's what it's all about. That's what living your More is, that's what Club More is. And if you're interested in becoming a member of ClubMore

14:01

Simply go to club more.live and subscribe to the newsletter. I would love to have you join us in this somewhat unconventional type club.

Vona Johnson: 14:11

At the beginning I mentioned that if you stayed to the end, I would share with you what I think we need to do to be able to. Have the courage to do what God's asking us to do. In those moments when we maybe wanna lash out, we wanna pull out our sword and respond and, I'm just gonna say, I believe with all my heart. In my second book, Equipped for More, I expand on it. But the first three issues in Equipped for More and the first three things I'm always gonna tell everybody to do is get in the word. That's where we're gonna meet Jesus. That's where we're gonna learn what he wants for us in our life. It's incredible how through those words. We can randomly pick'em up, but they're not random for him. He shows this exactly what we need when we need it. I could give you hundreds of examples how he's done that for me in the past, but be in the word, spend time in the word every single day, even if it's only a few minutes. Even if you find an app and listen to it, do a devotion, it doesn't matter. He will lead you, but get in the word. That's where the truth really is. The second step is then to pray every minute. Pray without ceasing. We can be having an ongoing conversation with Jesus all day long. So ask the Holy Spirit. every day I ask that he will give me wisdom to know where he's leading me. Discernment to know how to respond to where he is leading me. And the courage to take action there. And I think that that's a great thing that you could be praying for as well. And then the third thing that we need to do as we're in the word and we're praying and going throughout our day, is we need to listen. We need to turn off the radio and the TV and the scrolling through the phones all day long and just. Go for a walk in the quiet. As you get ready for the day, just have moments of quiet and listen to where God is speaking to you and what he's saying. I could create a formula for everybody, but it wouldn't be for everybody because. Every one of our paths is different and God is calling every one of us to respond to a different need in a different place. And I have this beautiful dream of if we were all doing exactly what God asked us to do throughout the world, we wouldn't have crime and evil and we wouldn't have people that were hurting because we would all be doing what God's will is for us. I know that's heaven. We're not gonna get that here, but we who know Jesus and love Jesus can always continue to work towards that. So that's what Lord has been asking me to share with you these last few weeks. In the next episode, in two weeks, I had a beautiful conversation with a man who talks about. This bullying that's happening in the world, whether it's an inner bullying or a bullying amongst ourselves, I had a great conversation with him and we are going to share about how we can courageously say no to the bullying that's happening in our world, and I'm excited to share that message with you, and hope you'll come back for that. In the meantime, I pray that you will engage your faith and you will live your more as you live out this beautiful season of retirement. Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed week.