“Search for peace, and work to maintain it” (1 Peter 3:11 NLT).
Today I want to help by giving some practical advice about how to help during a time of relationship conflict and that is to emphasize reconciliation, not resolution. It’s unrealistic to expect everyone to agree about everything.
Reconciliation focuses on the relationship, while resolution focuses on the problem. When we focus on reconciliation, the problem loses significance and often becomes irrelevant compared to the importance of the relationship itself. We can re-establish a relationship even when we are unable to resolve our differences.
Christians often have legitimate, honest disagreements and differing opinions, but we can disagree without being disagreeable. The same diamond looks different from different angles. God expects unity, not uniformity, and we can walk arm in arm without seeing eye to eye on every issue.This doesn’t mean you give up on finding a solution. You may need to continue discussing and even debating, but you do it in a spirit of harmony. Reconciliation means you bury the hatchet, not necessarily the issue.