Beloved,
Maybe it was with someone at school or at church or perhaps with someone in your own family. It can happen to all of us. Sometimes our arguments and disagreements don’t last very long. That may be because the argument is over something relatively small or unimportant. But sometimes our arguments aren’t so easy to fix, especially if they’re with someone you trust or with someone you thought was your friend. Those types of arguments can often be the hardest to solve, because they can be so hurtful and personal. When you’ve been arguing with someone, what should you do? You could go to the other person and apologize, but what if the argument was the other person’s fault? And what if the other person doesn’t ever come to you and tell you that they are sorry?
Romans 12:18 tells us that God wants you to be the one to make the first move to make things right whenever you’re fighting with someone. He wants you to do whatever you can to live at peace with the other person, even if that person was completely to blame for the argument. That sounds really difficult to do, but we need to remember that our relationships are typically much more important to God than whatever it is that we’re arguing about. And on top of that, we need to seek to make peace with others because that’s exactly what Jesus did for us. Jesus was our peacemaker!
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:1-5 that all of us were in a fight with God. We were always doing the wrong things and not listening to what God would say to us. But instead of punishing us for those things, God wanted to have peace with us, even though we were the ones doing the wrong things. God the Father sent Jesus to the earth to die for our sins on the cross so that we could be at peace with God. So, as strange as it may sound, our arguments and disagreements can actually be great opportunities. They are opportunities to make choices that are honoring and pleasing to God, and they are opportunities for us to show others the type of love that Jesus demonstrated for us. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The Greatest act of Love is showing kindness to those in your family even at times when they fall short. Remembering always that you too will make mistakes but God’s grace is sufficient.
Bishop Autie Hines