No Place for Contempt

But as for you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you as well, why do you regard your brother or sister with contempt? For we will all appear before the judgment seat of God. - Romans 14:10

It’s so, so easy to slip into contempt as the election draws near. “Those people are stupid” or “I’m so glad I’m not like them” just sort of rolls off the tongue - or at least it rolls around in our minds. But that’s not the way of Jesus.

On Sunday, Emma Roy mentioned a key insight from the book Us by Terrence Real. In Emma’s words:

It's this book that has kept me thinking about the idea that, when engaging conflict in relationships, there is no positive use for contempt. I have been practicing avoiding media and disengaging from conversations where other people— including those who I might strongly disagree with—are spoken about contemptuously or like they don't matter.

Perhaps there’s a way you could join with Emma for the remainder of this election season - renouncing contempt, and even leaving conversations where others are showing contempt. Would you be up for that?