Tag Archives: conflict

Dealing with Conflicts

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom 12:21)

Conflicts among people are common. After David killed Goliath, Saul’s attitude toward David had changed from one of love (1 Sam 16:21) to one of hate (1 Sam 18:11) because of his extreme jealousy of David’s increasing popularity. Selfish desires such as jealousy, ambition, covetousness, and competition are often causes of conflicts. Conflict and disagreement will arise when we try to step over others to get ahead or preserve our self-interests as Saul.

What distinguishes those who are driven to stir up conflicts like Saul? Take a good look at the “Saul” within us. Continue reading

A Wise and Gentle Response

There are a number of incidents in the Bible where we are privileged with an omniscient point of view. One of them is recorded in John 12:4-8, where Judas denounces Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet with costly spikenard. Not only do we see Judas’ apparent ‘righteousness’ in questioning why the oil was not sold to be given to the poor, we see his evil intentions from Jesus’ all-knowing perspective. Although the gospel of John writes that Judas was a thief, it is likely that no one at the time knew this except for Jesus. What can we learn from the dialogue that ensued?

Judas was being a hypocrite when he criticized Mary’s offering because he did not actually care about the poor at all (Jn 12:6). For this reason, Jesus had a number of ways He could have responded to Judas. Continue reading