by

Pastor B.J. Knefley

Do you enjoy conflict? I don’t, and I’ve found that most people don’t either. I have met some who seem to thrive on it, but they are the exception. 

Conflict arises from disagreement. We all face it in our families, relationships, workplaces, and daily activities. It doesn’t have to be catastrophic unless we let it escalate, like the road rage incident I heard about on the news recently. A simple moment of conflict resulted in disastrous choices and one person’s death.

Conflict can be a positive force when approached correctly. It doesn’t have to be entirely negative; it can encourage us to think and learn. It can challenge us and foster understanding and growth. However, we need to consciously choose to let it lead to positive outcomes in our lives. The problem often arises during conflict, as there are additional factors at play. Conflict can trigger feelings of disrespect, devaluation, and insignificance, causing the main issue to take a backseat to our emotional needs.

Conflict can enter people’s lives in various ways. Social media has become a platform for fostering conflict. Text messaging often leads to a range of issues related to miscommunication and misunderstanding. Conflict arises when ‘he said, she said’ creates disagreements and hard feelings, usually over trivial matters. None of this is new; even Jesus said that we’d have conflict in this world. The question is how to handle conflict. Personally, I like to ask a simple question: “In the scope of eternity, how important is it?” It’s funny how unimportant things become when viewed from the right perspective. What may have been a conflict in one moment can become irrelevant in the next. So, in the end, the question is, in the grand scheme of eternity, how significant is it? Think about it.