What Role Does Strife Play in Creating Stress?

Strife causes stress, whether a current experience or a future possibility. Strife can be defined as conflict, discord or dissension between individuals or isolated within your emotional self. Stress creates mental and physical tension, ranging from minor to severe, depending on each person’s perception of a situation.

One way to manage stress caused by strife is to negotiate a solution to whatever caused the conflict. 

Genesis 13 tells how Abraham initiated a settlement between himself and his nephew Lott. “Let us end the quarrel between us, for we are brothers. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right.”

Abraham offered a positive choice that could not be rejected. His faith in God was strong and mature, so he knew God would bless him for settling the dispute. This is a positive way to manage stress and reduce harmful strife. Believe right now that God will bless you abundantly for following the same method.  

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Abram said to Lott, “Let us not have fighting between us…After all, we’re family. Look around. Isn’t there plenty of land out there? Let’s separate. If you go left, I’ll go right; if you go right, I’ll go left.” 

~Genesis 13:8-9 The Message

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Trustworthiness: Essential to Reconciliation

Making amends is usually a give-and-take affair between two people, with each person being equally responsible for the success of the effort. The one seeking to make amends must demonstrate humility and sincerity in addition to presenting an attitude of trustworthiness.

  

          The one receiving the offer of reconciliation is responsible for being receptive with humility and sincerity. Esau had every right to hesitate when Jacob attempted to make amends for cheating him out of his birthright and his father's blessing. Instead he reached out to Jacob with love and forgiveness because he saw trustworthiness in Jacob that could not be denied.

          Trustworthiness is essential when one seeks to make amends. For fellowship to be restored, the recipient is responsible for receiving it with an attitude of humility. Esau reached out to Jacob with the blessing of peace by giving him a hug and a kiss. This clearly opened the door for God to bless both brothers. What greater reward could there be for making amends? 

Looking Back, Moving Forward - Part 2

Memories have the capacity for being a blessing that provides contentment and joy. However, memories can be obstructions to our feelings of well-being and may contribute to a life-style of underachievement. We consistently come to crossroads where our choices remain permanently marked in our memories.

The Old Testament patriarch Jacob had left home as a young man under duress after he and his mother had conspired against his brother Esau to steal their father's blessing. While sleeping on a lonely dark road, he had dreamed about a ladder extending from earth up to heaven. There God had spoken to him and made a covenant to give him and his descendants the land where he was sleeping.

The memory of deceitfully conspiring against his brother would continually haunt him, but now he had the memory of that dream and a commitment to honor God with his life. As sinful as Jacob and his mother had been, God favored him. God sees beyond the moment to a future time when a person will change, mature, and live up to his or her potential. Jesus saw this in the apostle Paul.  

Accomplishment: A Fresh Look - Part 1

Most everyone begins adulthood with dreams of the perfect job, the perfect spouse, and perfect children. Dreams of success provide motivation for going out into the world to accomplish great things. God designed us to be ambitious, to reach out beyond perceived limitations and obstacles to achieve what others believe to be impossible for us.

A  successful, caring physician was discouraged by his parents from applying to medical school. When he persisted in pursuing his ambition, both parents withheld their financial and emotional support. Thankfully his grandfather, a physician, encouraged him to follow his dream. The young man's determination and faith helped him meet and overcome the obstacles he encountered.

It's interesting how surprised we can be when we're confronted by obstacles on our way to success. Obstacles test our faith, give rise to doubt, and test our obedience to God's calling. Luke 10:3 portrays Jesus sending his disciples out to meet these obstacles. With prayer and determination, obstacles can be overcome. Give thanks to God for giving you determination to overcome obstacles.

Work Choices: Are You Satisfied? - Part 3

Some people hate their work and feel sick just thinking about it. Others find meaning and purpose doing any type of work. For them, wasting time is out of the question. However don't confuse relaxation with idleness, for leisure is required for healthy living. Ecclesiastes 10:18 reminds us that laziness produces trouble. "If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the roof leaks."

If you despise your work, trouble and hardship may show its face unless you adjust your attitude. You can choose to change by allowing yourself to develop a positive attitude toward your work. You can refuse to be negative by choosing to see your work as God's provision for you and your family. Ask yourself, "How can I be helpful to those I work with each day?"

Pay attention to your co-workers. Determine to be a role model of the love and compassion God has shown you through Christ Jesus. He endured the Cross to save you and give you a life worth living. Would you begin demonstrating this attitude and see what God will do with it? 

Work Choices: Are You Satisfied? - Part 2

Most Americans believe work should be a source of reward by providing meaning and purpose as well as financial security. Linus Carl Pauling, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry and the Nobel Peace Prize was known for his carefree enjoyment of life. "I just went about doing what I liked to do." He liked to do almost everything, whether trivial or difficult.

Even in his nineties Linus Pauling possessed the enthusiasm and curiosity of a young person. Life was not easy growing up in poverty or working at menial jobs as a teenager and college student. Yet he found harmony between these trivial jobs and his work during the rest of life. He followed the encouraging advice of Colossians 3:23. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, for it is Christ Jesus you're serving."

God told Adam he would have to work to make a living, but he promised to  be his help and guide. When you choose to work as if working for the Lord, you're in a position to receive what Colossians 3:24 calls an inheritance from the Lord. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Work Choices: Are You Satisfied? - Part 1

So many people detest their work and yearn for an opportunity to make changes. Others shift the emphasis from work to leisure because work fails to  provide satisfaction. Some individuals in their mid-life years seek change by taking dangerous risks because of disappointment and burn-out with their work.

In Luke 12:16-21 Jesus conveys a story about a farmer who became wealthy, but because of a misguided attitude toward work and leisure, he failed to reap the harvest of his labor. Work and leisure fail to bring satisfaction and meaning when God is excluded from our choices. God's desire is to be included so we can feel blessed and enriched by him.

Permit yourself to see work as God's gift and as an avenue for expressing your love to Christ Jesus. He not only saves us from our sins and but saves us from negative attitudes that ruin our joy and happiness. Ecclesiastes 2:26 is instructive. "To the one who pleases God, he gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness." Seek to please God with all your heart.  

Re-creating Job Satisfaction - Part 3

Two objectives for working are to attain satisfaction and a earn a livelihood. The degree of satisfaction you experience is linked to your attitude toward work. A positive attitude will enhance your chances for satisfaction in other areas of your life. The happier you are with work, the higher your chances for finding meaning and purpose for your time here on earth.

What are you trying to extract from your work? Is it just a means to an end, a way to get the necessities of life and other things you want? Is work a channel for retirement and security for old age? I'm reminded of Jesus' parable about the farmer who reaped such an abundant harvest that he had to build new barns to store the overflow.

His attitude was to eat, drink, and be happy, but he failed to consider God's plan for his future. The point Jesus made is that your attitude toward work may not produce the rewards you expect. However deciding that your work is God gift to you can be the attitude you take to work and pass on to others. What could be more pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ?

Re-creating Job Satisfaction - Part 2

The attitudes you developed toward work as an adolescent most often endure for a lifetime. Some adolescents want to avoid work while others seek out employment. Those who to have a positive attitude toward work as teenagers tend to make better adjustments to the changes life requires during the decades of the forties and fifties.

For some adults, mid-life necessitates redefining specific goals for working. More than a few men and women reach mid-life and conclude they have been chasing the wind, as Solomon pointed out in Ecclesiastes 4:6. The attitude you possess toward work determines in part whether you come to judge your life's toil as meaningful or meaningless.

Without Christ Jesus giving direction to your life, what you achieve can be seen as pointless and ultimately worthless. Change must include an evaluation of your attitude toward work, the objectives you've achieved and whether you believe work is God's gift to you. God is at work in your life to show you his way and what you can be for him and others.  

Burned Out or Blessed? - Part 2

How would you describe your attitude about the work you do each day? Is it a drudgery or a blessing? Is work a place where you do as little as possible just to keep your job? Do you have enthusiasm for your work? It's true that some tasks are mundane and not challenging, but the attitude you have about work doesn't have to be negative.

Is it possible to perceive work as God's gift to you, rather than punishment to make life miserable? How is it possible for work to be seen as a blessing from God who loves you? Work brings into focus an acute awareness of choices that determines what level of influence you will have on fellow workers and those we serve.

If you've reached mid-life, consider the knowledge and wisdom you can pass on freely to the next generation. You may have to force yourself to count the ways you've been blessed by God in your work. Next, thank God for his blessings by   permitting yourself to enjoy the fruits of your labor. This is possible when you view your work as a gift from God.