Conflict resolution

Digging in Deeper: Matthew 5:23-24

February 18, 2019February 12, 2019Leave a comment

“So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever tried to worship with an angry heart? That’s no small task. In fact, I dare say it is an impossible one. Worshiping the Lord is something that should happen primarily between us and the Lord. Worshiping angry, like doing just about anything angry, is a recipe for not doing it very well. Jesus here offers us a solution. But hold on tight because it sounds pretty radical.

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Digging in Deeper: 2 Samuel 22:4

December 12, 2018December 14, 2018Leave a comment

“I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

We know what it looks like to be saved from our enemies, right? David sure did. It meant they were completely defeated and destroyed. It meant achieving military victory. It meant putting down any and every rebellion. It meant no one was standing in his way. He had experienced these kinds of victories all his life. But, as followers of Jesus, is this still the kind of victory we should expect to experience?

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Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 20:2

December 7, 2018December 4, 2018Leave a comment

“So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

Unresolved issues become the fuel for future conflicts. There’s an old adage about conflict resolution that heralds time as a kind of universal problem-solver. Far from being true, though, this idea is nothing more than a dangerous fantasy. When we face a conflict or even a tension in a relationship, if things are not brought to a resolution, we should not consider the matter resolved. Time is no healer of wounds. Conflicts which are not resolved, but rather are simply left alone do not solve themselves. They become festering pools of bitterness that eventually threaten to poison everything around them and become the lens through which we view everything else in our lives.

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Digging in Deeper: Joshua 9:14-15

July 18, 2018July 18, 2018Leave a comment

“So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

There are three things worth noting in this story. First, the Gibeonites were both smart and wise, if dishonest. They saw the writing on the wall and decided that living as servants was better than being totally destroyed. If they could trick the Israelites into thinking they were not locals slated for destruction, but rather foreigners who came to serve because of how great Israel’s God was, perhaps they would be allowed to live, rather than being wiped off the face of the earth as had happened to Jericho and Ai. Read the rest…