“When I was young, a neighboring family came down with a devastating illness.  Several of the children died, and the rest suffered permanent brain damage.  What investigators discovered was that the father had found a truckload of discarded seed corn and fed it to the family hogs.  The corn (not intended for animal feed) had been treated with something so bugs wouldn't eat it before it germinated.  The hogs ate it, seemingly with no ill effects.

But when the family hogs became the family breakfast, the family was poisoned.  It seems that many substances – pesticides and heavy metals like lead and mercury – do not pass through the digestive system, but remain in the body, always.  In tiny doses, the effects are minimal.  But over time, the effects are horrible.

That's what happens to many of us… Every day we ingest minute amounts of conflict and disrespect.  No big deal, we think.  Just blow it off.  But we don't.  Instead it gets buried in our liver and 20 years later, we go ballistic over some kid skateboarding in the parking lot and wonder, ‘Where did that come from?’” *

Conflict.  The very word makes us uncomfortable.  It isn’t pleasant.  We’d rather not have to deal with it.

But it’s a reality.  We cannot avoid it.  We will encounter it.  The question is: how are we going to handle it?

The core of conflict is sin.  Sin is the root cause of conflict in the most important relationship of all: our relationship with God.  Sin separates us from God and puts us on the path to destruction (Isaiah 59:1-2; Matthew 7:13-14).

Because of sin, each of us is in conflict with God.  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  But God paid the price for our redemption through the death of His Son on the cross (Ephesians 1:7).  Through Jesus, we can be reconciled to God, even though we don’t deserve it.  Through Christ, the conflict is resolved.

We also learn from Christ how to resolve conflict with others.  He teaches us that it will require much love (John 3:16), taking the initiative (Matthew 5:23-24; 18:15), and extending forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32).

Won’t YOU accept God’s offer of salvation and eternal life so that you aren’t separated from Him anymore?  Won’t YOU share the conflict-ending ways of Christ with others?

-- David A. Sargent