Resolving conflicts

ByHanna Shiferaw

Abraham and Lot were brothers. They left their country and were living on a foreign land. “But the land didn’t have enough food for both of them. They had large herds and many servants. So they weren’t able to stay together. The people who took care of Abraham’s herds and those who took care of Lot’s herds began to argue.”  Genesis 13:6-7

Conflict begins when we don’t get what we want, and the only way to get it is to take it from somebody else. When two opposing viewpoints are not willing to find some common ground, conflict starts there. This leads to disagreement.

“So Abraham said to Lot, “Let’s not argue with each other……….Let’s separate.”” Genesis 13:8-9 Then the two men separated peacefully.

We cannot totally avoid conflicts from our life, but we can take steps to resolve them. Resolving conflict takes the ability of putting peace above personal interests or victories. In other words when we argue, we are losing our peace.

Isaac was camping on the valley called Gerar. Considering the scarcity of water in the area, he dug water wells. However, the people of Gerar argued with him to take the water wells from him. Isaac didn’t fight with them, despite they are claiming on his own property. Rather he put peace above his personal interests and moved on and dug another well. They claimed on his second well too. Again he didn’t argue or fight. He left them this one too, and moved on, and dug another well. They didn’t claim on this third one. Then he got the peace he wanted. Genesis 26:17-22

 “Let’s not argue with each other……… After all, we are part of the same family.” Genesis 13:8