{"id":1287,"date":"2019-12-04T04:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T09:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=1287"},"modified":"2019-11-16T06:55:08","modified_gmt":"2019-11-16T11:55:08","slug":"rest-from-blaming-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2019\/12\/04\/rest-from-blaming-others\/","title":{"rendered":"REST FROM BLAMING OTHERS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWhy do you look at the splinter in your brother\u2019s eye but don\u2019t notice the beam of wood in your own eye.\u201d Matthew 7:3 CSB<\/a>
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When it comes to conflict, we all have a role.  Webster\u2019s 1828 dictionary defines conflict<\/a> as \u201ca striking or dashing against each other, as of two moving bodies in opposition; violent collision of substances; as a conflict<\/em> of elements, or waves; a conflict<\/em> of particles in ebulltion<\/a> (boiling).\u201d   When two individuals with opposing ideas bump against each other, conflict arises.  Often, when we\u2019re in the midst of conflict, we\u2019re so focused on the other persons \u201cfaults,\u201d we don\u2019t realize, we have faults of our own.  We spend more time blaming the other person than defining our part in the conflict. But if we want to diffuse conflict in our lives, we have to look at what our part in the conflict is, AND we have to take responsibility for our actions.
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An article from the Denver Institute for Faith and Works<\/a>, describes our role in conflict. \u201cWe are all sinners, whose hearts have tendencies toward self-serving motivations and selfish pride.\u201d   in a nutshell, none of us are perfect, we are all sinners, our default mode is selfishness.  We have to be self aware enough to understand why we respond the way we do? Why does the other person\u2019s actions offend me?  What is the deeper issue? What sin in our lives are we leaving unattended? Before we start pointing out someone else\u2019s sin, we need to start with our own sin.  We need to take the plank out of our own eye before we deal with the splinter in someone else\u2019s.
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One of the hardest parts about conflicts we engage in is not letting our emotions drive us.\u00a0 Our feelings lie. We can create entire narratives in our head that aren\u2019t true. For instance, when you get cut off in traffic, have you ever assumed the person did it intentionally?\u00a0 I have. I\u2019ve taken it personally when someone has cut me off in traffic. The other day, the same truck cut me off twice weaving back and forth in traffic. I was fuming. But then I saw the look on the woman\u2019s face which obviously communicated she had no idea where she was going.\u00a0 Or when you come home from work and your spouse does something that drives you through the roof. Automatically you assume they\u2019re trying to pick a fight, but in reality, they don\u2019t even know they have irritated you. However we create stories in our minds that say the opposite. Instead of focusing on the truth of the situation, we focus on the lies.\u00a0 Often times, we\u2019re the problem, but we don\u2019t want to take the time to examine ourselves, or admit our part in the conflict. If we\u2019re going to rest from conflict, we need to learn to examine ourselves first before we point fingers at the other person. Remember, when we point our finger at someone else\u2019s faults, there are three fingers pointing back as us.\u00a0 Examine your own heart first.
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Today I\u2019m going to find rest from blaming others.  How can you find rest today? Comment below.
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\u201cWhy do you look at the splinter in your brother\u2019s eye but don\u2019t notice the beam of wood in your own eye.\u201d Matthew 7:3 CSB When it comes to conflict, we all have a role.  Webster\u2019s 1828 dictionary defines conflict as \u201ca striking or dashing against each other, as of two moving bodies in opposition;… Continue reading REST FROM BLAMING OTHERS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1287"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1291,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287\/revisions\/1291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}