Harry Lee Jackson Jr Prayer Line

When You Wish That Conflict Would Disappear

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, [and] easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17).

There are some things you can avoid in life. You can avoid long lines at the bookstore; just purchase what you want to read online. You can avoid eating a pile of cookies; just don’t buy them. You can avoid getting trick-or-treaters; you can just leave the house on the evening of October 31st. But there are some things in life that you just can’t avoid, no matter how much you don’t like them. Conflict is one of those things. It comes knocking on everyone’s front door at some time or another and it isn’t polite. It just comes right in and sits down on the couch. And, when that happens you have a couple choices: you can allow it to stay and really make a mess of your life and emotions, or you can handle it God’s way and experience peace.

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Success in Self-Forgetfulness

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.”  Colossians 3:9-10

Sometimes we are forgetful. We may forget to return a phone call. We may forget a meeting. We might forget to write a thank you note to a friend. Unless our  behavior is chronic, most people understand and give me us a pass. But of course, We’d better not forget a spouses birthday or our wedding anniversary–no good excuses! Encouragingly, there is a good forgetfulness (described by the Theologian  C.S. Lewis), “He [a humble person] will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.” When I help another first–I am growing toward my new self in Christ and away from my old self in sin.

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Impatient Actions

 “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we not wot is become of him.”  Exodus 32:1

We become impatient when things don’t go our way or when uncertainty looms over our life like a dark cloud. We become impatient when time seems to be running out or when people don’t act as we think they should. We even become impatient waiting on God. We all wrestle with impatience from time to time. Hopefully, you are not chronically impatient. If so, there is a good chance you are discontented and even miserable. Impatience can be good if your house is on fire, but in the normal course of life, it is not the best choice.

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God Works Within Us

(Ephesians 3:20-21)

Let the words from Ephesians 3:20-21 slowly sink into our understanding:  “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think” (verse 20).  What an amazing description of the Lord’s ability to work within us.  Yet so often our focus is mainly on what we want Him to do around us:  If he would change this situation or fix that problem, then my life would be better. But He invites us to think and ask bigger. The Apostle Paul said  “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved, me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).  Yes, God wants us to let Christ live His life through us!   Because without Him, we can do nothing worthwhile or lasting (John 15:5).

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