Burying the hatchet!

Philippians 4:2-3

     And now I want to plead with those two women, Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true teammate, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. And they worked with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.

     Disagreements are a natural part of human nature, and unfortunately, they take place inside the church and Christian community as often as they occur outside the church. But the Word of God commands us to love one another and not hold unforgiveness in our heart toward anyone. So, as Christians, we must work diligently to get past any disagreement that we may have with another brother or sister in the Lord. If left to fester, bitterness and resentment will grow and begin to infect more and more individuals and may eventually, cause huge ramifications within the whole church body.

     Women tend to be notorious for this kind of behavior. Once hurt or offended, a woman will spread the news like wildfire, hoping to gather as many alliances on her side, as she can. Since two women are often involved in this same behavior, you end up with a church body divided in two, usually over a trivial matter. Both looking for some sort of justification over the unfair treatment that they feel they have received.

     We, as Christians and the Church Body, do not need to play into that kind of behavior. We need to stay impartial, speak truth, and force the two parties to work through their disagreement in love, just like Paul was suggesting in this particular passage. It boils down to pride and arrogance, neither of which are listed in the fruit of Spirit, that we are to be exhibiting. (Quick reminder of what the fruit of Spirit is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.)

     When we are busy working on trying to perfect the fruit in our lives, we will have no time for petty arguments and disagreements. Satan will do anything and everything to try to cause division and strife within the Body of Christ, and it is our job to stay on guard and prevent that from happening. Often times, it means humbling ourselves and saying, “I’m sorry”, even when we feel we’re not at fault. Christ died for us when it was not His fault. Let’s follow His ultimate example, in order to move forward in peace and love with each other.

     Is there someone that you need to be reconciled with today? Bury the hatchet and go to that person and ask for forgiveness for holding a grudge or bitterness toward them, regardless of who was at fault. Don’t let today pass without making things right.

Have a great day!