Bible Passage: “And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” (Ephesians 4:32 CSB)
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:17-32
The most difficult part of any corrective or reconciliation conversation is knowing what to say.
And one of the life lessons my mom taught me was “It’s not always what you say, it’s also how you say it.”
The temptation you will face is to fall in line according to your natural tendencies. If you prefer to avoid any conflict, then you will want to stay silent or be soft on the issues in your relationship. If you need to win the argument, then you will tend to be more aggressive.
The Bible calls us to think differently as sons of God.
We are called to be the new version of ourselves—to be a man who is created according to God’s likeness.
The Scriptures tell us to take the posture of letting go of certain behaviors and adopting others. We are to let go of bitterness, anger, and wrath, shouting, slander, and malice.
Malice might be the most difficult one to let go of from this list. This is the desire to cause harm, pain, or suffering to another person.
In short, God wants you to let go of the need to get what is owed to you and replace it with the desire to seek the best for the other person.
The right posture to take in any difficult relationship is kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.
Depending on the depth of the offense against you, this might feel impossible.
However, the reason you can and should respond this way is that this is how God has treated you. You and I owe God a massive debt, but He has taken the posture of compassion and forgiveness.
Remembering how much you have been forgiven will help you have the right posture when having a difficult conversation with another person.
Prayer: God, shape the posture I should take as I enter into conflict conversations with others. Let my life reflect the life of a man created according to God’s likeness. Amen.
Reflection: Read Ephesians 4:17-32 again. When you are in conflict with someone, what actions and attitudes are the most difficult for you to live out? How would your conversations be different if you adopted the posture the Bible calls for?
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