Category: Conflict

Love embodies the nine characteristics that comprise the fruit of the Spirit. The other eight stem from love. And no wonder! “God is love” (1 John 4:8). There is no evil, no darkness, no sin found in him. Lavish love toward God can be expressed in many ways. In the Old Testament, we are given…

The Roman soldiers were feared because of their fighting style which featured short swords. Jesus didn’t have a sword or armor, but he was true God. He had the power to call on thousands of angels to fight for him. Imagine how the mighty Roman soldiers would have hid from fighting angels! Jesus didn’t call…

Making jello can be fun. After you add water to the powder and pour it into a mold, it takes on that shape. Your attitude can be like jello in the sense that it starts to look like the example we follow. What mold do others expect you to use? Do not repay anyone evil…

“She hit me first!” If someone hits you, does that give you the right to hit back? It is hard to be nice to someone who isn’t very nice to you. Yet God wants you to be different from those who think that it is okay to hate your enemy. You have heard that it…

Why do you do what you do as a Christian? Why do you love and show kindness to others? The reason you love isn’t only because you love Jesus, but because he loves you. We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 Can you pour water from an empty pitcher? No! First you…

He asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he…

In a perfect world, relationships would be strong and healthy. We’d never have to deal with enemies, conflicts, or violence. No hidden agendas, passive-aggressive behaviors, hit-and-run tactics, cold wars, or sneak attacks. But ours is not a perfect world. It was for an imperfect world that our Lord Jesus laid out a strategy to deal…

God’s way for resolving conflict is never easy. It’s never easy to acknowledge one’s sin in the face of a sworn adversary. It’s never easy to unconditionally forgive someone hell-bent on destroying you. It is never easy to love an enemy so intensely that you would even say a prayer on that person’s behalf. And…