Defusing tensions

https://odb.org/2024/10/04/a-hard-day

After a hard and long day at work, we are usually tired and just want to chill. Unless something pleasant had happened during the day, our mood would lilely be bad. So, even a simple neutral gesture or word may irritate us and cause us to react negatively and sometimes harshly. Or we may just want to vent our frustrations on someone. There are two aspects to this. One is to maintain our calm and patience when faced with someone who had a bad day, who is getting all worked up over something small and unprovoked. The other is not to be the person making a big fuss over things just because we have had a bad day.  We should defuse the tension instead of adding fuel to fire, or we should not start the tension in the first place.

This is the aspect of Jesus’s character that we should learn and emulate as despite insults hurled at Him, mocking, and humiliation, Jesus did not retaliate whether verbally or by calling fire from heaven. He had a mission to save mankind from their sins, and nothing was going to distract or prevent Him from fulfilling His destiny.

What’s our mission and destiny in life? In addition to earning a living, we are to live a life that is a living sacrifice unto God, to live at the centre of His will for our lives. Our lives must give a good testimony of our God, of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must live to glorify God. If we are led by the Spirit, will we react by our fleshy and carnal desires and motivations? We may be only human, but we are also born-again spiritual beings. Our spirit should have control over mind and emotion. He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. Even as the devil uses our situation to provoke us to react in an un-Christ like manner, we must never take the bait.

Be the peacemaker and not the catalyst to tensions. Be like Christ. Don’t add fuel to fire to make things bigger and worse. Tensions will lead to bad situations, and as heated words are exchanged, things may get out of hand. Follow and emulate Christ. He is our mentor and role model to follow. He is, after all, our Lord and Saviour!