Have you ever had a conflict with someone that just wrecked you? You know the kind–the one that when just thinking of that person, anguish washes over your heart like hot acid, enveloping everything it touches as it pulses through your body, until it settles into the pit of your stomach and burns hot there without end?
Yeah, that one.
At these times, it’s all too easy to just write people off and to learn to be content living in disunity. Except for that darn acid. Not to mention, the commandment to love one another. (John 13:34, NIV)
Because He knows when we act with a spirit of love, everything changes.
When we take the attitude towards others that He has, miracles happen.
When we find a way to truly be happy for (and even pray for) the blessings of others,
When we hold our tongues behind backs and speak life face-to-face,
When we look at others with His adoring eyes instead of looking for holes and flaws,
Suddenly, the acid evaporates.
And instead we are left with the most precious of oils. (Psalm 133, NIV) It fills the air with sweetness, it spreads over His people, not as burning acid, but as the calming Holy Spirit. It refreshes instead of destroying. And when we have unity with one another, we receive His greatest blessing, both in the freedom we find for ourselves in this life, and in being used by Him to give that freedom to others.
But, gosh, it’s hard. Especially when I’m in the middle of that conflict, the acid churning and burning in my gut and instinctually it’s fight or flight. Yet that’s when we especially need to seek unity. That’s when we need not give up on our relationships with others, but give our conflict with them up to Him. And that’s when we have to pray for the same attitude of mind towards this other child of God that Jesus has. (Romans 15:5, NIV)
Father, soften our hearts for those we don’t see eye-to-eye with. Let us learn to disagree without being disagreeable. May we do all things with a spirit of love. Help us unify our hearts with each other and in doing so, unify our hearts with Yours.
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