Is Being Right Worth the Price?
I was talking to a beautiful young woman who told me, “I have a strong personality, and I love to be right and win. Both give me such a great feeling. But these traits are slowly ruining my marriage and negatively changing the atmosphere in our home.” She was fortunate to realize this when she did. If you have to win every argument, you’ll devastate your spouse. If you have to be right all the time, you’re making others, including your children, feel wrong. It’s too costly. It isn’t worth the price of your marriage, your children, or your job.
It’s interesting in our relationships with our spouses and children, coworkers, and business partners, we start out with the same goals. We want to love each other, to raise thriving kids, and to be successful. But somewhere along the way, we get in conflict because we differ in our personalities and perspectives. We have to have our way and win. We must be the right one. And that puts us in conflict and gets us off course, taking us away from desired outcomes.
This is exactly the opposite attitude that Jesus tells us we must have in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). He’s saying, “You’re not blessed when you’re right and win every argument. You are blessed when you are willing to let go of an offense. You are blessed when you don’t walk in the pathway of conflict. You are blessed when you don’t have to have your way and are willing to keep the peace.”
The synonyms of “a peacemaker” are “a diplomat, an arbitrator, a mediator, a calmer, a soother, a go-between.” They read like the characteristics of Jesus. It’s the attitude that He walked in while He was on this earth. He made peace for us so we can make peace for others. We can be reconcilers of peace. We have to walk with the heart of a peacemaker.
The apostle Paul says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). There is a place in your spirit that says, “I am a peacemaker, and because I am a peacemaker, I can trust God to fight my battles for me and bring the right outcome.” We have the ability to draw the line in the sand and say, “I’m not going to step over this line into strife and division. I’m going to make peace.” Let’s be instruments of peace, because there’s a blessing in the life of a peacemaker.
It’s interesting in our relationships with our spouses and children, coworkers, and business partners, we start out with the same goals. We want to love each other, to raise thriving kids, and to be successful. But somewhere along the way, we get in conflict because we differ in our personalities and perspectives. We have to have our way and win. We must be the right one. And that puts us in conflict and gets us off course, taking us away from desired outcomes.
This is exactly the opposite attitude that Jesus tells us we must have in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). He’s saying, “You’re not blessed when you’re right and win every argument. You are blessed when you are willing to let go of an offense. You are blessed when you don’t walk in the pathway of conflict. You are blessed when you don’t have to have your way and are willing to keep the peace.”
The synonyms of “a peacemaker” are “a diplomat, an arbitrator, a mediator, a calmer, a soother, a go-between.” They read like the characteristics of Jesus. It’s the attitude that He walked in while He was on this earth. He made peace for us so we can make peace for others. We can be reconcilers of peace. We have to walk with the heart of a peacemaker.
The apostle Paul says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). There is a place in your spirit that says, “I am a peacemaker, and because I am a peacemaker, I can trust God to fight my battles for me and bring the right outcome.” We have the ability to draw the line in the sand and say, “I’m not going to step over this line into strife and division. I’m going to make peace.” Let’s be instruments of peace, because there’s a blessing in the life of a peacemaker.