At church last week, the sermon had a lot of things with which I
disagree. I can itemize them all in this post, but I don’t want to do
that. Instead, I’ll look for common ground and identify where I agreed.
The pastor was talking about conflict. He asked us if we really want
to say something hurtful to someone else, something that would make
that person cry. I have to admit that I would not want to be that
hurtful. And, if I were that hurtful, I should apologize to that
person. But it is better not to be that hurtful in the first place.
As the pastor said, though, hurt people hurt people. That is why I
need to pray continually to God for God to set my heart at peace, or at
least to give me self-control so that I do not blow up at people.
That doesn’t mean that I can never stand up for myself or stand up to people when they are being out of line.