How to Be Like Jesus in Conflict - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - May 25, 2023
To resolve conflicts in a way that honors Christ, it's essential to shift your focus from your own needs to the other person's hurts and interests. By doing so, you'll be able to understand their perspective, address their emotional pain, and move forward with empathy and compassion.
“Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”Philippians 2:4-5 (NLT)
When you meet someone to resolve a conflict, you first have to confess your part of the problem. Then you need to listen for the other person’s hurt and perspective.
In every conflict—from our personal relationships to politics—we think we argue over ideas. But we actually argue over emotion. Anytime there’s a conflict, someone’s feelings were hurt; somebody felt abused or slighted. It’s not the idea that causes the conflict. It’s the emotion behind the idea.
Hurt people hurt people. The more someone is experiencing hurt, the more likely they are to lash out at everyone else. People who aren’t experiencing hurt don’t hurt others. People who are filled with love are loving toward others. People who are filled with joy are joyful toward others. People who are filled with peace are at peace with everybody else. But people who are filled with hurt are going to hurt others. They’re going to lash out.
If you want to connect with people, you must start with their hurts, their needs, and their interests. If you want to be a good salesperson, you don’t start with your product. You start with your customer’s hurts, needs, and interests. If you want to be a good professor or pastor or anything else, you start with people’s needs, hurts, and interests.
Philippians 2:4-5 says, “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (NLT).
In times of conflict, are you often so busy trying to get others to see your position that you don’t listen to theirs? When each person is just speaking and not listening, you move further and further away from each other emotionally.
Instead, you need to intentionally switch your focus from your needs to their needs. Conflict resolution starts with the way you look at the situation. The word “look” in Philippians 2:4 is the Greek word scopos. It’s where we get our words “microscope” and “telescope.”
Scopos means “to focus.” The passage goes on to say that you should have the same attitude Jesus had. And you are most like Jesus when you’re focusing on the hurts of somebody else rather than your own.
There’s an old proverb that says, “Seek to understand before seeking to be understood.” When you’re focused on the other person’s needs and not your own, you’ll be able to get a better understanding of the situation and move forward with resolving your conflict.
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
Your Gift Brings Hope to the World
Transform your prayer life with God’s Word!
True breakthrough from the struggles of life begins with prayer—and there is no better place to start cultivating a powerful prayer life than the Bible.
Discover the biblical wisdom you need to transform the way you pray when you dive into this special collection of verses from God’s Word. You’ll be inspired and encouraged by Scripture as you learn to trust in his promises.
Drawing key verses from Pastor Rick’s "40 Days of Prayer" teaching series, this set of 52 beautifully designed cards will help you memorize God’s Word so you can access it when you need it most—and it’s our thanks for your gift today to help more people experience the transformative power of prayer through Daily Hope!
Thank you for helping share the hope of Jesus Christ. May you enjoy a time of breakthrough as you fill your heart and mind with the truth of Scripture.
*The USA IRS code permits you to deduct the amount of your financial gift to Daily Hope that exceeds the fair market value of “current offer” materials you received from Daily Hope.
