In every business or country, there is always laws created for good reasons to create justice and balance in the community. But when one becomes too proud because of these laws or just because a majority of people say it’s rights and the smaller group disagrees conflicts arrives.

In this article, you will learn and understand useful and important Biblical principles from the Bible to better help us understand how we should handle conflicts and disagreements in the marketplace.

In the old times of the Bible, Paul wrote this Letter call Romans ( you can read more here ) which is the letter written to believers to handle issues happening in the church and conflicts too because of the laws and differents in believes. We can learn a great deal about how conflicts are handled in this letter to help us apply them in the business world to handle conflicts.

But to do so, we have to first understand the story and context of this letter and who Paul is and why the letter was written which is nicely explained in this video

From chapter 1 to 4, Paul explains that all fall short of God both Gentiles (you) & Jews and have sinned much more the Jews who were “special” were more guilty. Paul went on to explain the good news that we are Justified by faith through Christ

Paul’s main goal of the letter was to unify the believers in the church because of the conflicts and we can learn more in the 2nd part video here how:

Christians Are Not Perfect!

The reality is that even if I say I am a Christian I am not perfect too because we are still all working towards learning to model our life just like Jesus. Unfortunately, not all will do that and people grow in maturity in life through lessons and trials. Eventually we all have our own sets of ego and it’s our pride that causes us to have conflicts with others most of the time.

Is Loving Others “Hard”?

I got to admit to having the idea of loving others without them deserving it took me some time to accept and adapt to my business. It is because at times there are both non-believers and Christians who do not behave well.

As Paul pointed out very clearly in the verses below

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord. – Romans 12:9-19

Action Speaks Louder Than Words

Sometimes in due of conflicts at work or business, it is so easy for us to point at others who is at fault and it just makes everyone angry in their hearts. At times we might even be like the Jews who think they are right and thought we know it all and boost about how righteous we are but yet if we do not humble ourselves we create more enemies than doing good in the marketplace.

The gentiles on the other hand which was the majority in the story made the Jews looked weak because of their numbers and push their views and beliefs onto the Jews which was also wrong too.

Both sides were is great disagreement on laws and traditions that both parties had huge different views and believes in.

The same goes for decision making or conflicts at work where we will disagree on matters that we strongly believe in and disagree on those we do not agree with.

So how than can we solve these conflicts?

Paul’s Suggestions To Conflicts

• Be sincere and honest
• Hate evil, love doing good
• Love each other and honour one another
• Be joyful and hopeful and patient
• Share to those in need
• Bless those who persecute you and not curse them by forgiving them in your heart
• Show moral support in happy or good times
• Do not be proud of your achievements be willing to be humble
• Do not take revenge

In Summary Love Others As You Would Like To Receive

Can you see now how these points can relate to our own business? You got to remember that Christian or not they are still humans and have emotions just like you and I.

Personal Reflections

I writing this blog post as part of my assignments in my studies for Romans and by studying and understand Paul’s letter it makes me realise the importance of showing love to others is an important key factor when it comes to Handling Conflicts.

It also reminded me of the times when I was an Atheist myself, how much I ignored God and very much wanted to revenge in every situation that came my way

I personally have many laws and values I used to follow but later realise all these values created by mans of this world was not Holy and great compared to what the Bible mention.

It is very ironically for someone like me who once hate God right now writing this to tell you to believe in the His principles. Regardless if you believe in Christ now or not is not the point of this article but the fact is that everyone needs to learn to be humble and forgiving to others which is an important point to learn in handling conflicts

While I am not saying I met every point up there suggested but what we can learn from Paul is that in due of conflicts we should always look for ways to work together in unity regardless if you are Christian or not

I hope you enjoy my sharing in these passages to understand how we can work in unity with others actually helps grows not only in our business and careers but also helps us understand how to be better connected with others in the marketplace.

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