Conflict And Trust
Conflict. It's a word most of us really hate, and would do anything to avoid. It's the cause of all our broken relationships, and, on a first glance, seems like a very, very bad thing.
But what if we have conflict all wrong? What if our avoidance of conflict doesn't make things better, but can actually create the problems we're trying to avoid? What if conflict could be a good thing?
This week we'll look to the Bible and learn why healthy conflict isn't just a good thing, but why it's actually a necessary thing for our relationships to grow and thrive.
Forgiveness seems like it should be an easy concept to explain, but we have a lot of phrases to try to help us understand it: an eye for an eye, turn the other cheek, heap burning coals, forgive and forget. Why do we even need to care about forgiveness in our relationships? Does forgiveness just mean that my pain wasn’t real? That I just need to pretend it didn’t happen?
Actually the Bible says that our hurt, wounds, pain, and trauma are very real, and the reason we experience them is because of a little thing called sin. We live in a broken world where things can quickly spiral out of control. Thankfully, all throughout history, God has given us this tool of forgiveness to stop the spiral.
This week, we’ll look at what the Bible says sin really is, how we can stop things from spiraling out of control, and how forgiveness can help our relationships be a force of good in the world.