Years ago I remember reading a confession made by a renowned theologian.  He and his wife had been invited to a Christian radio program to be interviewed about marriage.  They were selected to address the issue because the host thought that he and his wife had been a good role-model. 

During the interview the host asked them, “What do you do when you have a conflict?”  Almost simultaneously he and his wife responded, “We try to resolve it before the sun goes down,” quoting from Ephesians 4:27.  Well, the truth was, he later shared in the article which he wrote, the day before the interview they had a fight.  But, that night they went to sleep in anger—no resolution!

I am sure we can relate to him—I personally can.  Santy and I don’t always pray together and resolve our conflict on the same day— before the sun goes down.  Sometimes it takes the sun to come up and go down again before we can sit down and resolve our differences.  But, what is important is that we eventually pray together and resolve our conflicts.

Oswald Chambers says, “The two things around which our Lord centered His most scathing teaching were money and marriage, because they are the two things that make men and women devils or saints.” Perhaps the word “devils” is a too strong but I think we get the point.  Marriage can reveal who we really are and marriage can sharpen our bad sides as well as our good sides.

Surely we do not want to be devils; I trust we all want to be saints.  So, whenever conflict arises, let’s do what saints always do: They pray, forgive, and start all over again.

Pastor Paul