Growth in Conflict
What happens when someone misrepresents or outright lies about something we love? If we're in a position to say something about it we usually do. We see this online all the time as inevitably you'll run into someone you feel is misrepresenting, if not outright lying, about something or someone important to us.

Throughout the history of the church, various conflicts have risen about the nature of all things Christianity. From the nature of the gospel itself to the proper methods of evangelism, the church has fought for years about the 'right' way of things. Some of those fights have led to consensus while others have resulted in division and more infighting. Because of this fear of disunity the church it's not uncommon to find the church unwilling to deal with any doctrinal or practical dispute choosing instead to either double down on what's already been said, or avoid the topic altogether.

Truth is always important and the importance of truth calls godly men and women to sometimes sharpen their faith through conflict with one another. While it's true that conflict is never pleasant, conflict is a reality of life and how we handle it shows us something about our maturity. Scripture tells us that iron sharpens iron, and well handled conflict results in growth. Even those times when there seems to be no resolution, God is still using these moments to shape who we are and how we believe.

Harold Best, the former dean of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College once said that a mature Christian is easily edified. In other words, mature Christians are able to see through disagreements to the things that are core to their growth. While we so often look for opportunities to "contend" we forget that sometimes the blessing is in the bigger picture. We should fight for truth, but we should never let that truth trample our love or allow the fight to camouflage our grace.