Question: How do we deal with our disposition? Should we pray concerning our disposition, or should we seek more experience of the Lord?
Answer: The Lord does not seem to answer this kind of prayer. Romans 8:13 says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” The practices of our body are part of our character. Habitually, we always do things a certain way. We have to put to death our habits by the indwelling Spirit. The only thing that can solve the problem of our disposition and character is the cross. We have to take the cross to put our disposition to death. We may be willing to put to death the members of our body in relation to sin. However, our body has many practices every day. All these practices are according to our habits, and they also must be put to death. We need to pay attention to the matter of opinion and always condemn our opinion.
A brother may come to us and say, “Let us go to visit people by knocking on their doors.” If we have learned the lesson of putting our disposition to death, we will say, “Amen! Hallelujah!” However, we may feel that we have the right to express our opinion and that we should not follow this brother blindly. Only the death of the cross can deal with our disposition. Our old man, the “I,” has been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20). Therefore, we have to let our opinion, our disposition, remain on the cross. This is the breaking of the outer man.
Question: Since our opinion affects how useful we are and how well we can work with others, how can we fellowship and coordinate with one another in the work?
Answer: We must put our opinion aside. It is hard for Christians to discuss the Lord’s work. It is even hard to talk about being in one accord. In February of 1986, about five hundred co-workers and elders came together for a conference. The subject of that conference was the one accord. Eventually, that conference became the source of a turmoil. When three gospel team members come together, if one would say something to maintain the one accord, he may offend the other two. Because the one accord is a difficult matter, many Christians are like politicians. They say they agree with something when actually they do not. It seems they do not have any opinion, but actually they have many opinions.
Question: What should we do if something comes out in our fellowship that we strongly feel is not right?
Answer: We must take the lead to be without an opinion. Let the others with whom we fellowship say what they will. We should simply say, “Amen! I will go along with you.” Then the others will follow our example. If we argue and correct others, we will set up a model of arguing and correcting, and the others will also argue. If we have learned the lesson of dealing with opinions, we will be an example of a person with no opinion. Then the others with us will also learn the lesson of dealing with opinions.
Often when I propose something, the brothers with me will propose something different. When this happens, I quickly go along with them. On the other hand, when the brothers propose something, I do not like to say something different. I prefer to go along with them and say, “Very good. Let us do it.” It is the matter of opinion, our disposition, that makes us stubborn. We do not like to be changed or corrected. We like to insist on our way. If we do not break through to have our way this time, we will try again the next time. If we are like this, the older brothers cannot use us, and the younger brothers will not work with us. As a result, we will become isolated and useless. We should always go along with the brothers, with no opinion, putting our disposition to death. Then we will be useful.
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