Maintaining Joy Amid Disagreement

There are many reasons why churches go through times of turmoil. Sometimes the issues are important and involve the spiritual soundness of the church. Most of the time, however, the turmoil is over petty and insignificant issues. Many churches have split over issues as simple as the choice of a hymn book or the color of the carpet. These church conflicts bring about deep scars in the body of Christ. In the process, our reputation is tarnished in the community. Jesus knew you can’t truly worship when you are at odds with a brother or sister. God wants his children to get along. From the story before us today, we can see three general principles on how we can maintain our joy in the midst of disagreements.