Category: Conflict

Just when you thought you were getting the hang of this revolutionary idea, just when you were beginning to see that a reconciliation strategy is the way to go, your enemy decides on a new peace-breaking strategy along the lines of a verbal insult, a physical assault, or hitting you with a nasty lawsuit. Now…

Let’s step back from our private battlefields for a moment to try to understand why we are not more eager to snuff out conflicts while they are still in the formative stage. The voice of our instructor is that of the apostle James, the author of a New Testament letter meant for all Christians, past…

Instinct tells us there are two ways to put a quick end to these nightmares: (1) stand and fight or (2) run the other way. It’s been dubbed the fight-or-flight response. But when the fight-or-flight option is seen as the only recourse, we’re caught in a classic catch-22. The fight response only increases hostility and…

Though our behaviors do not always show it, we were originally hardwired with an innate appreciation for getting along. We shouldn’t be surprised, then, if at some level, all human beings desire peace. But the peace you and I know is only a faint glimmer of the peace Adam and Eve once enjoyed. Their peace…

When conflict strikes nearby, we are often the last to grasp its seriousness and the least likely to have a clue of what to do about it. One explanation is that many personal conflicts begin so innocently, with a simple misunderstanding, an offhand remark, a misread gesture, a difference of opinion, or a challenge to…

One of the small but beautiful wonders of Scripture is that God inspired its authors to occasionally divulge a curious detail for which no further explanation is offered. One such tantalizing piece of seemingly inconsequential information appears in the Old Testament story of David and Goliath. As young David prepared to face the enemy’s giant…

For sinner-saints like us, pulling off something as simple as walking in Jesus’ sandals is never an easy assignment. He is God; we are not. Hanging from a cross, he could pray, “Father, forgive them.” In the heat of our battles, we find that kind of prayer a challenge. A good test to determine if…

This talk of weaponry and tactical support leads to our final discussion. We’ve saved this lesson for last because the concept is just so difficult to buy into. (Had we introduced it earlier, we might have lost some readers.) To make the point, consider one of the many war narratives in Scripture. This one describes…