The Vice President of the United States was so angered by the refusal of the Secretary of the Treasury to apologize for remarks made that he challenged him to a duel and shot him to death.

Conflict arises in politics, the workplace, marriage, family, and churches. We all have some kind of problem in the realm of our relationships. Maybe you went into a relationship thinking that you were 100% in agreement about everything. I’m sure that bubble was quickly burst. It’s rare to have absolute agreement between two people much less between hundreds or even thousands.

When you work through differences, you build a stronger relationship. Many times, when a marriage hits a rough patch, there is a freshening of the relationship. It’s like hitting the reset button on a game console – suddenly things are working again.

Disagreements can also be distractions, especially within the church. How do you keep a church from reaching others? You create division among the members. How many churches has Satan rendered ineffective because he was able to generate dissension? Christians are easy prey when the trap is baited with prideful prejudice over unimportant matters. Division hurts Jesus and the cause of Christ.

Life Lesson: When we come together, we create problems. When we work together to solve them, we become stronger people and stronger in the Lord.

It was sad that two of our nation’s founding fathers, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, could not settle their differences without bloodshed and death. Yet only the strength, mercy and grace of God keeps any of us alive.

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David McGee is the founder of Cross The Bridge Ministries as well as a pastor, teacher and author.  He may be contacted using the form here.