“Full of Mercy and Good Fruits” – A Better Approach to Problem Solving in Families and Business
In my Church this year, we are studying the New Testament. This week we are focused on the Book of James. This morning in Chapter 3, I read the following:
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
As I pondered these verses, it was hard not to think about the different families and businesses that I work for who are struggling to get along and make decisions without contention and strife overwhelming and destroying them. I thought, whether someone is a person of faith or not, if each of us could approach problems and make decisions with meekness and wisdom as opposed to envy and strife, we would be so much more able to sow peace and righteousness as opposed to confusion and evil.
Even if your goals are noble and your position right, if you approach problems with bitter envy and strife as opposed to meekness and kindness, you are unlikely to have much positive effect. In fact, you will likely inflame the other side and make peace and reconciliation less likely. They may not get their way, but neither will you.
What if each of us, approached problems or disagreements “out of a good conversation” and “with meekness of wisdom”? What if each of us sought to bring this approach to our businesses? To our families? How many families would no longer be broken? Maybe the problem isn’t really the problem. Maybe the problem is really how we approach our interactions with each other. What if each of us could approach our problems “full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy”?
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