Video Transcript: The Most Important Choice in Conflict

I'm sorry, Wally, I thought I fixed that.  That's a typo.  Oh, I know what I did.  Okay, just start over.

Welcome back to Restoring Relationships - Transforming Justice.  In this lecture, we're going to discuss the most important question - or the most important choice you have in responding to conflict.  It's a choice that comes at you a number of times during the life of a conflict, it's not just a one-time choice.  But it's the most important choice we make in responding to conflict.  

Every conflict presents an opportunity to make a choice and the importance of this choice is such that it determines whose purpose we will pursue in response to a conflict.  This choice also determines what power will be available to you, as you endeavor to extinguish a conflict wildfire.  The choice also determines whether you will break free from shallow wildfire identity and labels, and experience restorative justice.  

So let's talk about our choices in the midst of conflict.  Our choices are like seeds that we plant in the midst of a conflict.  Each choice, like a seed, will eventually grow and bear fruit in that conflict.  Every word we say, every action we take, every response we make to someone in the conflict with us.  All the choices behind these things are like seeds that we plant.  The Word of God says in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.”  Our choices have consequences.  And our choices are important.  So let me ask you a few curious questions about your conflict story and the choices you've made.  

What choices did you make in the wildfire, in your wildfire story that eventually brought you here to this class?  Do you recognize the power of your choices and their impact on your relationships, your future, and your life?  

Well, the most important choice in conflict is this.  Which fire will you choose to ignite your response to a conflict?  Will you choose what's happening at the Wildfire?  Or will you choose what's happening at the Peacefire?  The fire you choose to motivate your response and to identify the purpose you'll pursue will determine the outcome and the power available to you to extinguish that conflict wildfire.  

And we make this choice repeatedly during the life of a conflict.  And sometimes we'll find ourselves making poor choices based on what's happening at the wildfire.  We'll have to get back to the Peacefire, seek the Lord's forgiveness and get back where we belong, pursuing his purpose.  These choices come at us repeatedly, many times, sometimes many times a day in the same conflict.  

When the wildfire ignites our response to a conflict, we are motivated by what's happening in the wildfire.  So if my choice is to respond to conflict based upon what I see, what I think, what I hear, what I feel in the wildfire, my purpose and the power I have of available will all be limited by what's happening there.  But when the Peacefire, when I choose the Peacefire, and the Peacefire ignites my response to a conflict, I begin to make faith choices, in reliance on God's word, motivated by His Holy Spirit, and by His love, and His power is available to me.  

Proverbs 3:5-7 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways, submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.  Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and shun evil.”  

When we choose the Peacefire, we choose to pursue and obey Jesus Christ in responding to the dynamics of the conflict.  And the Lord promises to provide his transforming peace when we bring those choices to him.  Isaiah 26:3-4, remember our theme verse, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”

Let's review the points from this lecture.  

Our choices have consequences.  The Bible teaches that we reap what we sow.  The most important choice we make in conflict is this.  Which fire will ignite your response to a conflict?  What is happening at the wildfire, or what is happening at the Peacefire.  When we choose the wildfire, we choose to pursue our desired outcome and to be motivated by everything that's happening in the conflict, but when we choose the Peacefire, we make a faith choice to rely on Jesus Christ, to pursue his desired outcome, and to be motivated by what's happening at the Peacefire, where we find his love, his peace, and his power to respond to the conflict.  And the Lord promises to provide his transforming peace when we bring our conflict choices to him.  

Thanks for watching this lecture.  God bless you.  We'll see you next time.