Day 112: Resolving Issues

"When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.  I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite."  Luke 12:58-59

This is a harsh message.

We always want Jesus to be on our side, even when it involves our own wills and not his.  But, Jesus is a preacher of Truth, and if we are not of the Truth, we will feel that Jesus is standing against us.  Jesus reprimands us so that we can walk along the straight and narrow path, and that will involve us learning to turn away from every temptation that is out there, no matter how enticing each might be.

In the American court system, many times the case will be settled in favor of the one who has the better lawyer.  A great example of how this plays out is with immigration hearings, where the court will provide a lawyer who probably can't even speak the language of the defendant.  Of course, that would easily put that person at a disadvantage.  Indeed, cases are very hard to settle because of the gathering of evidence, and if there is not much evidence, the details can become very difficult to figure out.

The easiest way to resolve these issues is for both sides to put aside their pride and start speaking truthfully to one another, so that they can resolve the issues quickly and smoothly.  It is because of lies and pride that court cases can go on for so long.

In the same way, we need to make sure that we are resolving all our conflicts with those around us.  It is one thing to ignore issues just because we want to appear nice, or we want to make sure we can squeeze as much money out of a relationship with an acquaintance.  It is another thing, though, to speak truthfully and lovingly to those around us.  For, when we are brought before God, the ultimate Judge, there will be no ifs, ands, or buts that we can speak of.  God will judge us on the one commandment: to love one another.  When we hold grudges against other people, we project our hate towards them, and they become an embodiment of a deep sin within us.  We need to let them go and reconcile ourselves with those people whom we hold grudges against.  When we learn to resolve our issues like that, we will be able to spread the love that God has shown us to everybody around us.  Rather than continue living in a hate filled world, we will be bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into our daily lives.