What would it take...

So I met a cool friend of a friend the other night - Franchesca*. We ended up talking about baptism, the Holy Spirit, faith, and it takes for God to forgive you. She's thoughtful, knowledgeable, and tactful. We also have fundamental disagreements in our perspectives. She said very little that was new to me - most of it was rehashing of concepts I've heard before.

But the conversation got me thinking: What would she have to say for me to reconsider my perspective? For all of the talk, what would it take for me to actually change my views? Is it simply running into someone who is a brilliant debater who can out think me?

Is it a matter of her ideas making more sense to me than mine? Is it a matter of my liking her ideas better than mine?

As I think about it, here's a few thoughts that leap to mind.
- I want clear practical areas where her ideas work "better" than mine. Ideally I could try her ideas out in my life, but at the very least I'd like to see them lived out in her life.
- I want to understand the derivation: I want to know where these ideas come from and whey they are considered reliable.
- I'm probably a lot more sympathetic in the areas (or times) when my coping strategies are failing miserable. I'm a lot more tempted by alternate belief systems when I'm lonely and miserable.
- I'd like to see her considering and (probably) changing her views over time. It's hard for me to believe that anyone under the age of 60 has it all worked out.

The last point gets me. I tend to shift my perspectives pretty slowly, I think, and I don't tend to be aware of the magnitude of the changes. I rarely wake up one day and "You know what, I think I'm going to kiss dating good-bye." Instead I tend to quietly realize that I'm using my tongue to cut others down way too much and that I need to be much slower to speak.

But perhaps I just don't change me perspective on big issues (forest) much and tend to focus on the trees. Maybe I'm around too many people who more or less agree with me to be consistently challenged with my views. It's easy to think one is right when one isn't in pain. It's hard to think one is right when one's in pain. Except for those of us that love to play the martyr.

Maybe I just need to ask God that this would be my sincere prayer:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Do I believe that God will change those who want to know him?

(Okay, I admit, names and other details altered. Surprised?)