Acceptance or denial?

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When someone comes into our lives who believes different things to what we believe, do we question what we believe? Do we instantly deny what they are saying because we do not want to be wrong. It could be awkward if we have told others what we believe and then we have to go back to them and tell them something different. How embarrassing might that be? That would take humility. Imagine the leaders of the church in Jesus's time on earth, where they are the teachers, the ones who supposedly are the authority on all of the things of God. Then Jesus appears and sets them straight and tells His disciples all about how flawed those leaders are. Then they plotted to kill Jesus. Obviously they went down the path of denial. This was suicide.
How important is your image in the eyes of others, perhaps even the people that you may be a leader of. Is keeping up appearances worth going to hell for?

 2 THESSALONIANS 2 : 5 - 12 NKJV
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

 From verse 10, 11 and 12 we can see that those who do not love the truth will perish because God will condemn them.

 REVELATION 22 : 12 - 16 NKJV
12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

Firstly the above scripture from revelation 22 is Jesus testifying to the churches. He is warning them that those who practice the sin described in verse 15 will not have life. This includes loving and practicing a lie. Now that would be the opposite of becoming a lover of the truth as described in 2 Thessalonians 2. If you deny the truth when it is presented to you, then you must prefer the lie. It can only be one or the other. Should we then be hasty to say that anyone is wrong? I believe that humility is the safest and best approach. Being prepared to be corrected in all things. When a believer has a real relationship with God there will be transformation evident in their lives. This transformation occurs when the believer admits that they are wrong and that Jesus is right. 
Our response to someone who comes to us disagreeing with what we believe, should be to ask God to show us the truth. If we will humble ourselves in that way, God will show us the truth, however the answer may come over a period of time. The main thing is though that we put everything before The Lord that He may teach us the truth. In this way our desire is for the truth in every circumstance, more important than our own self image. This is delightful to God and is a sign of a true believer.

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