Mock me no more!
Conflict is all around us, is it not? The evening news is riddled with reports of conflict at its extreme - war, bombings, the taking of lives, and riots. In a sense, we live in a world which is escalating in conflict more and more. The chances of being railed upon by an angry shopper, or shot at in a random drive-by is greater today than it was thirty years ago. Conflict is a state of being attacked, ridiculed, or derided - not always for a reason we understand or can justify. Perhaps it is for our way of dressing, our spiritual beliefs, or our physical traits. Regardless of the "source" of or "reason" for the conflict, it exists. We run the chances of living WITH and IN conflict, don't we? Remove the mocker and conflict disappears; judgment and shame also stop. (Proverbs 22:10 CEB) Solomon gives us insight into conflict - it carries with it two close companions: Judgment and Shame. This makes sense when we underst...