Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
[3] Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, [4] not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

What would happen if we all were to live our lives with these two verses as guiding principles? I wonder what would happen in our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, churches, communities and nation.

I will be the first to admit that living like this is tough, very tough. I know this in my head, but the reality does not always make it to my heart. This is especially true when I feel I am being treated unfairly.

How many times have you said, “I wish I was as talented as or as good with something as so and so?” We have all said it at one time or another. It is part of the human challenge of always comparing ourselves with others.

We compare ourselves to our parents, our siblings, friends, co-workers, teammates, spouse, classmates, etc. We go through life comparing ourselves. We compare for dozens of reasons such as, wealth, health, job, appearance, race, religion, and gender to name only a few.

Try as you may, you cannot avoid conflict in relationships. It is a natural part of our human existence. Since conflict is a part of our existence, you need to figure out how best to deal with it rather than try to avoid it.

When all you do is try to avoid conflict in a relationship, you are only allowing it to get worse. The longer you wait or the harder you try to avoid it, the worse the conflict will become.

I recall a conflict with a colleague when I worked as a manager at a call center. Rather than dealing with it immediately, I started avoiding it. The end result was I ended up distancing myself from my colleague and our relationship became rather awkward. I lacked the tools to manage the conflict. I know better now and have developed some tools, so I always try to deal with conflict as soon as possible because I value relationships.