Tag: conflict

Making Paul’s Joy Complete

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Hello everyone! My name is Joel and I will be bringing you this week’s FUEL Bible Readings. Each day we will be taking a look in the letters of Paul (Philippians in particular) at the theme of unity.

 

We’re living in a time filled with divisiveness and disunity. Every day our Facebook feeds, television screens, and other sources for news are filled with stories of conflict. This conflict manifests itself in many ways: arguments, protests, hostility, and even war. Sadly, conflict is not just a problem in secular society; the Church is not immune to it. But this is nothing new; from the very beginning of the Church and continuing for almost two thousand years, there has been discord and conflict among those who claim to follow Jesus of Nazareth.

 

But this, my brothers and sisters, is not how it should be.

 

The Church is to be united: having the “…same mind, having the same love, being in full accord” (Phil. 2:2, NRSV).  This is what Paul wanted for the church in Philippi—it would make his “joy complete”. And I am sure that, if he were writing today to any of the many churches dealing with disunity, he would encourage them to do the same.

 

So this week, as you are reading these devotions and the words of Paul, I would encourage you to look at yourself to see if there is anything you are doing that is promoting disunity within your church and look for ways in which you can make Paul’s joy complete.

 

– Joel Fletcher

 

Memory Verse:

“1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2, NRSV)

Three Deep Breaths

PROVERBS 29

Proverbs 29-11

When reading Proverbs 29, I caught onto a theme of how to handle anger and frustration.  Verse 8 says that the wise turn away anger.  Verse 11 reads that the wise bring calm whereas the fool vents his rage.  Verse 20 instructs us not to speak in haste, verse 22 tells us that angry and hot-tempered people stir up conflict and commit many sins, and verse 23 warns against pride, which is often a precursor to anger and argument.

We all encounter trying situations.  We all have tense moments in which we want to scream into a pillow or go for a run or do whatever helps us to cool off.  Proverbs 29 instructs us to keep a cool head and turn away from anger.  I remember a scene from a movie or television show (although for the life of me, I can’t remember the source) in which a character is stressing out.  Another character instructs her to take 3 deep breaths, saying that in the time it takes to complete those 3 breaths, she will stop herself from doing or saying anything she may later regret.

At some point or another, we all get angry.  In these times, it is important to know how God instructs us to handle ourselves.  I had a classmate in college who would pray for the class before every exam.  She always ended her prayers by asking the Lord to keep us calm, cool, and collected during the stress of the exam.  Three deep breaths.  Calm, cool, and collected.  When on the verge of having an outburst, remember to be the wise man and bring calm.  Be wise and turn away anger.  Don’t speak in haste.  Lean on the Lord and His teachings, even in tense moments.  Three deep breaths allows for enough time to reflect back on these verses.

-Megan Bryant