Some people refuse to bend when someone corrects them. Eventually they will break, and there will be no one to repair the damage.
Proverbs 29:1
The Bible tells us how to give proper place to God and others. We don't like submitting, renewing our minds, or disciplining ourselves. We want our friends and family to tell us we are justified so we can continue in the way that we want to go. We want to dwell in thoughts that promote self and support our thinking. We want to avoid having to make an apology because it will cost our pride far too much.
When we are humbled before God and are giving Him the right place in our lives, we do not care if it costs us to admit the other side has a valid point. When our minds are renewed in accordance to God's Word, our selfish ambitions die, and we esteem the other person as better than ourselves. Submission to the authority of God through our obedience brings control to our flesh. We know a humbled apology to an offended person is pleasing to the Lord and necessary for growth. Once our flesh is under submission to the Most High, we gain in a renewed mind and spirit.
Division is not something a sincere Christian can happily accept. It should grieve the Christian's spirit and motivate him to work towards healing and restoration, if at all possible. Our relationship with God affects our mindset towards other people. The closer we are to the Lord, the more we want His way in our lives. Our thoughts and actions when dealing with people will reflect our relationship with Him. Unity becomes a focus, because unity is the work of sincere Christians who are willing to sacrifice fleshly pride for God's way to strengthen and grow the church.
God can heal relationships if His people give Him proper place in their lives. My family has seen this happen, and we praise the Lord for it!! It is a very beautiful and precious experience. It takes a lot of work of looking squarely at self and surrendering to God's will. It takes unity minded mature Christians on both sides who are willing to die to self and focus on their own shortcomings while bearing with another's. If you are under God's authority instead of your own, God can do a beautiful work that will amaze you and those watching!
Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
Proverbs 15:32
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid
Proverbs 12:1
Proverbs 12:1
So I beg you, brothers and sisters, because of the great mercy God has shown us, offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him—an offering that is only for God and pleasing to him. Considering what he has done, it is only right that you should worship him in this way. Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,
Philippians 2:1-7
Philippians 2:1-7
