Rick Warren's Blog, page 607

Your Ministry of Reconciliation

When you want to repair a relationship where there is conflict, you have to focus on reconciliation, not resolution.

There���s a big difference! Reconciliation means reestablishing the relationship. It doesn���t mean you���ll remarry your ex; it just means you���re at peace with each other.

You Can Worry, or You Can Worship

Christianity is not for weaklings, wimps, or the faint of heart. It takes courageous men and women to follow Jesus.

People all over the world are suffering like we will never suffer as Americans. But what is it costing you to follow Christ? It���s unlikely you���ll ever have to deal with violent oppression. But you deal with silent repression every single day as our culture becomes more and more secularized and anti-Christian.

Three Benefits of Opposition

When you feel pressured by the world because you love Jesus and other people don���t, you need to remember three things:

For Conflict Resolution, Switch Your Focus

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.

We think we argue over ideas. But we actually argue over emotion. Any time there���s a conflict, somebody got his feelings hurt. Somebody felt abused. Somebody felt slighted. It���s not the ideas that cause the conflict. It���s the emotion behind the idea.

The First Key Step Toward Resolving Conflict

One of the most important life skills that you have to learn is conflict resolution. If you don���t, you���re going to spend a lot of your life miserable, because we���re imperfect people, and we have conflict almost every day of our lives.

Six Ways to Maintain Integrity

Integrity demands that every area of your life is treated with the same intensity. You have the same commitment to excellence in your marriage as you do in your career. You have the same commitment to excellence in ministry as you do in your parenting.

Take the First Step to Integrity

It may be tough for you to read a message about integrity, because you���re replaying in your mind all the times you���ve fallen short, all the opportunities you had to show integrity and didn���t, all the moral failures in your life. We could all make a similar list of failures.

What It Takes to Keep It Real

In a world that is absolutely obsessed with appearance and image, how in the world do you keep it real when everybody else is faking it? They don���t have integrity. They���re scooting by and they���re skimming and they���re cheating. They���re not keeping their promises.

How Integrity Blesses You

The Bible says that God blesses those who have integrity (Matthew 5:8). So what are the blessings you can expect when you live your life with authenticity and a pure heart?

Integrity: What You Are When You���re Alone With God

The Bible says in Matthew 5:8, ���God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God��� (NLT, second edition).

To ���see God��� means to experience the presence of God. Believers who have a pure heart get to feel the power of God. They get to know the purpose of God for their lives. They get to live in the peace of God. They experience the pardon of God.