2 Corinthians 5:16-21

(*I pray for the Spirit of Christ to give me wisdom with which to speak about Himself)

This week the students in our TESOL class are studying this passage of Scripture with hopes of applying it to intercultural communication. This was my response to the question of how should this passage influence our times of conflict:

I know that the things that I will say here are ideals. They are standards and that cannot be achieved without consciousness of God's Spirit and prayer while communication across cultures. With that said, in every situation we should be aware that we are ambassadors of Christ, representing His goodness and continuing His mission of reconciliation of the world's peoples to Himself. So when we find ourselves in conflict, when we are in a disagreement with persons of other views and practices we should remember our mission and continue to treat them with respect and with mercy as Christ did for us. Also with the knowledge that we are forgiven, we can forgive or overlook attacks from the other party because we are looking at the bigger picture, which is their value to God and the interaction from an eternal perspective. Ultimately, we are to protect and love them as ourselves even if they at odds with us. It is hard to reconcile an enemy to God, so our actions should be kind and bring them to the awareness of God's perfect love for them.