Conflict

At City on a Hill Church, I've been preaching a series of messages on the Beatitudes found in chapter 5 of the Gospel of Matthew. This week, we come to verse 9 where Jesus tells us,

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."

The interesting thing we need to remember is that we're all going to encounter conflict. Conflict is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. In fact, a long-lasting relationship with anyone without conflict is probably not a healthy one. What we do with conflict is truly the important focal point.

The book of James helps us understand how to handle conflict. In the first three verses of chapter 4, we're reminded

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

This really helps us understand that conflict arises many times out of unmet desires in our hearts. If someone does not meet that desire, we have a tendency to condemn that person and quarrel and fight to get our way. Those desires turn to demands. When we judge and punish those who get in our way, we've allowed conflict to turn into sin. In fact, when what we want becomes more important than loving others and maintaining peace and unity, our desires and demands have become idols.