I Choose Resolution!

Shane and I went to the Song of Solomon Bible Conference today. It was held at our church. I have to admit when the morning time came I was not really "feeling" like going and wishing I could sleep just another hour but thankfully we both got up and got there on time. It was great to see so many of our singles from Sunday School there. It was also great to see so many friends from North Campus that we had not seen in a while.

The conference was amazing and Voddie Baucham was one of the best speakers i have heard in a long time. If you are interested in learning more about him you can check out his website at http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/home.html.

I wanted to share just a few key points that he made today that had an impact on me. We talked about 'The Art of Conflict'. The key passages were Song of Solomon 5:2-6:13. The passage is about when Solomon comes to his Shulimite's chamber and knocks on the door late at night after he has just returned home from working. She does not answer when he knocks although he is speaking very kind words to her. By the time she decides to go ahead and answer the door he is gone. So, we see here a conflict and that Solomon has chosen to leave before the conflict is resolved. Conflict ultimately begins with an event. As a married couple we can either choose to escalate that event or resolve it. In the heated moment of a conflict do you usually choose to escalate or do you choose to resolve? It is easy to escalate and become very angry with our spouse. In Song of Solomon 5: 15-6:5 we see that even though there is conflict between Solomon and the Shulimite and she is talking with her friends she does not talk badly about him. How do you talk to others about your spouse when there is a conflict? Do you build them up or do you tear them down? The world does enough tearing down for us, we don't need to add to it. In the end we see an amazing picture of conflict resolution between Solomon and his bride. I thought this was such a powerful example for us to follow. I choose resolution! :)