Frequent Quarrel Equals Hatred
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-2 ESV).
Recently, two brethren in the Lord were involved in a heated argument and sharp exchange of words filled with anger and hatefulness. We say hateful because the words carried that spirit of hatred they had for each other. According to one of the brethren, this was not the first, second or third time they had such heated exchanges, this is indicative of a lack of love and respect. You may ask how this relates to our message isn’t it? Well, some of the reasons advanced that led to such quarrels were every time as a result of a confrontational spirit (Proverbs 3:30).
Why Some Of Us Are Confrontational?
What leads us to being confrontational? While we might not have all the answers however, what commonly drives the spirit of confrontation are our emotions and this is often based on our experience(s). In other words, what we felt would drive our response and instead of inflicting emotional scares leading to divisions, the Word of God commands us to add gentleness (Galatians 6:1) to retain and build our fellow brother or sister in Christ our Lord.
Based on some experiences we had, we learned that when a brother or sister in the Lord throws ‘jabs’ of blaming, false accusations and gossiping, we abandon love for our fellow brethren, and as custodians of the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, our actions are displeasing to Him as we are no longer bearing one another’s burdens, on the contrary, our aim is to condemn and destroy our brother or sister’s faith (Galatians 5:15) and this goes against the Word of the Lord (Matthew 12:30) to build and encourage each other in our faith (Hebrews 10:24-25). As we know, love balances our spiritual well-being against that of another and when love responds all the holy fruits of the Precious Spirit of God are present to execute His will (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Therefore, once love has been felt, peace is present and embraced, unity in Christ would make us one (John 17:22) and we all arise as one to Glorify the Lord (Psalm 34:3).
Conquering The Urge To Condemn
Like we acknowledged above, if there is some emotional attachment in the way we relate to our fellow brethren, there would be either some motivation to reject or accept a person in our lives. We also further acknowledge, while it would be impossible to forget an experience good or bad, scripturally, we are urged to show brotherly kindness in a spirit of corrective love (Colossians 3:14-15). If we accept a fellow brother or sister in Christ with a grudging spirit, how can we enjoy the fruit of peace and claim to obey the Lord Jesus (John 13:35). As often as we give others another chance in our lives to love, we grow them and give them the beauty of belonging and appreciation.
In our final encouragement to you, don’t allow anger, grudges, hateful feelings, ungodly perceptions with an evil motivation to drive you when God gives you the honor to dispense real love and Godly kindness when correcting YOUR BLOOD BROTHER OR SISTER IN CHRIST. In a humble and respectful attitude, don’t speak down but encouraging to win, win your fellow brother or sister over (Matthew 18:15). There is NO reason to be blatantly confrontational, we risks driving our brethren away from the Lord.
If you desire to accept Christ as Saviour and Lord we have a suggested Prayer of Sincere Repentance to get you started on a new way of life leading to Eternal life and for any questions or comments on this article or our ministry, you may please contact us.
