The Peacemaker's Harvest

When someone has wronged you, it is also helpful to remember that God is sovereign and loving. Therefore, when you are having a hard time forgiving that person, take time to note how God may be using the offense for good. Is this an unusual opportunity to glorify God? How can you serve others and help them grow in their faith? What sins and weaknesses of yours are being exposed for the sake of your growth? What character qualities are you being challenged to exercise? When you perceive that the person who has wronged you is being used as an instrument in God's hand to help you mature, serve others, and glorify him, it may be easier for you to move ahead with forgiveness.

(Taken from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande, Updated Edition (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2003) p. 216)

Food for Thought

Conflict, along with trials, suffering, loss, and other hardships, can be what God uses to bring the most good in our own lives or in the lives of those around us. It's often the most painful events of life that bring the biggest harvest.
Harvest is a prominent topic at this time of year. Here in Montana, the sugar beet and wheat harvest is taking place, and by all reports, this year will bring a good harvest. The hard work of tilling, planting, and watering through the year is finally coming to a fruitful end. In the same way, God brings us through the times of conflict, trial, or suffering that can bring a great harvest. Yes, it's work; often it involves hours (or months) of tears, heartache, and discipline, but the ultimate reward is one of becoming more like Christ. In these situations, God gives us opportunities to glorify him, to serve others, to be a part of what he is doing, and even to receive personal reward. Yet in our stubbornness, our refusal to forgive, or our demand to be right or vindicated, we fail to seize those opportunities. We miss the very harvest for which we've toiled.
The sowing, the tending, and the harvest all depend on each other--one could not happen without the other. But we are promised that "Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness" (James 3:18). May your harvest be a great one as you sow peace in the midst of the conflicts you face.

Sometimes Our Sinful Desires May Be the Least of Our Worries!

It is important to emphasize the fact that idols can arise from good desires as well as wicked desires. It is often not what we want that is the problem, but that we want it too much. For example, it is not unreasonable for a man to want a passionate sexual relationship with his wife or for a mother to want to stay at home with a newborn baby. Nor is it wrong for an employer to want diligent workers or for a pastor to desire respect from his deacons. These are good desires, but if they turn into demands that must be met in order for us to be satisfied and fulfilled, they can lead to bitterness, resentment, or self-pity that can destroy a family, business, or church.
How can you discern when a good desire might be turning into a sinful demand? You can begin by prayerfully asking yourself "X-ray" questions that reveal the true condition of your heart.

• What am I preoccupied with? What is the first thing on my mind in the morning and the last thing on my mind at night?
• How would I answer the question: "If only ______, then I would be happy, fulfilled, and secure"?
• What do I want to preserve or to avoid at all costs?
• Where do I put my trust?
• What do I fear?
• When a certain desire is not met, do I feel frustration, anxiety, resentment, bitterness, anger, or depression?
• Is there something I desire so much that I am willing to disappoint or hurt others in order to have it?

Taken from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande, Updated Edition (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2003) pp. 104-5

Food for Thought

What was the first thing on your mind this morning? How about the last thing on your mind last night? Is there a good desire in your life that's beginning to becoming a recurring thought pattern for you? As you consider this, remember the good news: God has ultimately satisfied that particular "good desire" through his Son. What remains is for us to trust and, through his grace, receive God's eye-opening insight into the ways in which we are beginning to trust, fear, or dwell on something other than God himself. Spend time today in prayer to ask God to reveal areas of your life where you might be elevating a good desire into a sinful demand.

Teachers' Convention

Last week I gave a workshop at the CRTA convention and really enjoyed that. It was so good to be back among teachers and hear about the students. My heart still goes out to the students who are struggling to find their place and think they have no one to talk to who might understand. I continually pray that God will use others to be that connection for students and others that they may feel safe enough to share their issues. By sharing we can carry each others burdens and the burdens then become easier to carry.

What Jesus Desires in His Followers

"My prayer is not for [my disciples] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:20-23, emphasis added )

Jesus prayed these words during the final hours of his life. As death drew near, the Lord focused on a single concept he knew to be of paramount importance for all those who would believe in him. He did not pray that his followers would always be happy, that they would never suffer, or that their rights would always be defended. Jesus prayed that his followers would get along with one another. This was so important to him that he tied his reputation and the credibility of his message to how well his followers would display unity and oneness.

(Taken from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande, Updated Edition (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2003) p. 48)

Food for Thought

Read Jesus' prayer once more and think about how important unity is to him. Is it equally important to you? How can you demonstrate this unity in your own life today? In your family? At work? In your church? How might the world see that God sent his Son by the way you relate to those around you? Pray that God through his Holy Spirit will strengthen and sustain you to glorify God, serve others, and grow to be like Christ in the crucible of conflict.