Daily Hope with Rick Warren

How to Be Like Jesus in Conflict - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - May 25, 2023

My Crosswalk Follow devo

rick warrens daily hope new banner may 2022

How to Be Like Jesus in Conflict 
By Rick Warren

“Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” Philippians 2:4-5 (NLT)

When you meet someone to resolve a conflict, you first have to confess your part of the problem. Then you need to listen for the other person’s hurt and perspective.

In every conflict—from our personal relationships to politics—we think we argue over ideas. But we actually argue over emotion. Anytime there’s a conflict, someone’s feelings were hurt; somebody felt abused or slighted. It’s not the idea that causes the conflict. It’s the emotion behind the idea.

Hurt people hurt people. The more someone is experiencing hurt, the more likely they are to lash out at everyone else. People who aren’t experiencing hurt don’t hurt others. People who are filled with love are loving toward others. People who are filled with joy are joyful toward others. People who are filled with peace are at peace with everybody else. But people who are filled with hurt are going to hurt others. They’re going to lash out.

If you want to connect with people, you must start with their hurts, their needs, and their interests. If you want to be a good salesperson, you don’t start with your product. You start with your customer’s hurts, needs, and interests. If you want to be a good professor or pastor or anything else, you start with people’s needs, hurts, and interests.

Philippians 2:4-5 says, “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (NLT).

In times of conflict, are you often so busy trying to get others to see your position that you don’t listen to theirs? When each person is just speaking and not listening, you move further and further away from each other emotionally.

Instead, you need to intentionally switch your focus from your needs to their needs. Conflict resolution starts with the way you look at the situation. The word “look” in Philippians 2:4 is the Greek word scopos. It’s where we get our words “microscope” and “telescope.”

Scopos means “to focus.” The passage goes on to say that you should have the same attitude Jesus had. And you are most like Jesus when you’re focusing on the hurts of somebody else rather than your own.

There’s an old proverb that says, “Seek to understand before seeking to be understood.” When you’re focused on the other person’s needs and not your own, you’ll be able to get a better understanding of the situation and move forward with resolving your conflict.

PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick

For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!


Created to Dream Rick Warren Daily Hope offer croppedYour Gift Brings Hope to the World

God has dreams for your life!

In Pastor Rick’s book "Created to Dream: The 6 Phases God Uses to Grow Your Faith," you’ll learn how to discover God’s custom-made dream for your life—a dream that is bigger and better than anything you could ever dream up on your own! And you’ll find practical help for navigating challenges, delays, and detours that stand in your way.

We’d love to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for your generous gift below to help take the hope of Jesus to more people through Daily Hope.

Request yours when you give today—and thank you for your partnership!

*All gifts will be doubled up to the full amount of the grant. Thank you for your generous support! 
*The USA IRS code permits you to deduct the amount of your financial gift to Daily Hope that exceeds the fair market value of materials you received from Daily Hope.

This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.

My Crosswalk Follow devo

SHARE