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Archive for the ‘Conflict’ Category

The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’ His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand.”
— Luke 15:29-31 (Message Bible)

Children have a keen sense of fairness. What parent of more than one child hasn’t heard “You’re not being fair!”

Jesus tells the famous parable of “The Prodigal Son” — a young man who rejected his family, took his inheritance early, and went to live the “good life!”. Life happened and it wasn’t good, he realized the real “good life” was back home. To his and his brother’s surprise the father not only took him back but fully restored him to the family giving the ring, robe, and shoes.

It didn’t seem fair to either. Neither child understood the most important factor of true fairness — LOVE. Learning selfless LOVE enables receiving undeserved forgiveness AND it enables rejoicing, without keeping score, when others receive.

Sound bite: “Love is the missing factor of human fairness.”
Prayer: “Jesus, put the love of God in both my heart and mind so I can understand your actions, forgiveness, and grace. Amen”

— fritz@langgang.com

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Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. – Proverbs 14:4

I am often amused how the Bible has a sanitized way of conveying simple truth.

To an agricultural society, very familiar with the chore of mucking out the barn, it communicates that to make money or conduct business one must put up with a lot of unpleasant things we wish we didn’t have to deal with — no use complaining, it’s just part of the job.

— fritz@langgang.com

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“What are the most damaging kinds of strife in a church?”

The quiet ones. The submerged, diffused, unacknowledged conflicts that smolder for years and years. If the institution is not willing to grab hold, debate, decide, reconcile, split, or whatever needs to be done, the issue becomes a cancer within. It eats at the body’s vitality, consuming its energy, spreading until the case is terminal.

Give me a genuine theological donnybrook any day. At least you know what you’ve got and can set up a process to deal with it.” – Lynn Buzzard1

– fritz
1. SURVIVAL GUIDE: MASTERING CONFLICT, ARTICLE 1, War and Peace in the Local Church A leadership interview with Lynn Buzzard, pg 8

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