Pastor’s Blog: Working Out Differences

In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

In working out differences, we have a positive and an often perceived negative. I would like for you to look at working out differences as positives. In Genesis 3:1-24, we find the first family, Adam and Eve, was confronted with conflict soon after their marriage. Eve was deceived by the serpent, then offered her husband the same fruit, and in disobedience to God, he partook, and both found themselves in disobedience and thus in conflict with God and each other. When sin entered the world, man learned blame! Sin always takes opportunity through our selfish nature to exonerate self and blame others. In the account of the first family and the first sin, blaming others found its entrance into the world sphere and thus into the family, creating an age-old problem for mankind.

God spoke judgment upon the serpent, the causative agent, and prophesied that through the woman whom he had deceived a Seed would come and take back the dominion that was lost because of disobedience. God said to the woman that she would now have pain in childbirth and her desire would be to her husband, and he would have headship over her. To the man, God said he would toil and have to work the ground for its produce. The Bible is silent as to whether they fought about being removed from the garden, but since we know human nature, we can safely conclude that they did. We soon see their two sons in conflict. Perhaps envy, hatred, and strife entered Cain’s heart because of blame. Perhaps he blamed his brother Abel because God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected his. Without a doubt, blame was somewhere in the mix!

Being born into this world means that we arrive to conflict, therefore we must learn how to deal with our differences which requires work! We must give of ourselves before we are able to resolve differences. Blaming others never solves our problems but on the contrary makes them worse. The first family suffered considerable loss, but God was faithful to them, and He has been rescuing families ever since the Genesis account. He is able to help you work out your family differences also