Life In Strife
By: Elizabeth Walker, Admin. Coordinator, Robins AFB PWOC
“I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life” Philippians 4:2,3.
Just what were Euodia and Syntyche in contention about? We don’t know and apparently what they were in disagreement about was not the point Paul was focusing on in this passage. He was focusing on their discord and that it needed to end. How many times have we been in conflict with a brother or sister in Christ, thinking that our point was the “main thing,” the “superior view,” or the “only way?”
To agree with someone’s point of view or method only in an effort to keep the peace is not always the way to go either – we do know that we serve an awesome God of truth and we are to live by His Word. However, there are many, many times when we may not be in agreement with someone, but can “agree to disagree,” or even better, just keep our mouth shut and let the other person “think out loud.”
Many times that is really what people around us are doing – just thinking out loud. They may not need our “expertise” at that moment, and better yet maybe never. But they do need to see that we serve a God of love, peace, patience and compassion, for to be around someone who truly exudes the fruits of the Spirit is to experience firsthand the beauty of God. And allowing the fruits of the Spirit to flow through us is far more memorable than any point we could try to make when the end results would bring discord to a relationship. We definitely have to remember to “keep the main thing, the main thing.”
Jesus tells us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”(John 14:27) Not empty words. Jesus is a Lord of peace, and not of hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy…these acts are of a sinful nature as told to us in Galatians 5:19-21. God cares about the words that come out of our mouths, for He knows that “out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks.”(Luke 6:45) Perhaps that is why David wrote, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)
God know our hearts. He wants us to be at peace with Him and one another. Paul knew how important peace is to our Lord - why else would he have taken the time to address the contention between Euodia and Syntyche? We may be very active in the church, we may be “doing a lot” for our brothers and sisters in Christ. But if we let discord come between us, then for what would we be remembered? Euodia and Syntyche are an example of what we would be remembered for and that alone is enough to make me pay close attention to God’s message of peace. For as God’s Word so wisely tells us in Ecclesiastes 10:12, “The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him.”
