What Causes Conflict?

 [What Causes Conflict?]( Current Teaching Series [Building a Better Future]( [Listen to Today's Broadcast]( [What Causes Conflict?]( By Rick Warren — 11/28/2022 [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Email](mailto:?subject=I'd%20like%20to%20share%20a%20Daily%20Devotional%20from%20Pastor%20Rick%20with%20you&body= “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.” Colossians 3:13 (NIV) You probably don’t like conflict. Most people try to avoid it as much as possible! But conflict is inevitable in life—because no one is perfect. But if you want to build a better future and pursue your purpose, God calls you to “bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone” (Colossians 3:13 NIV). Before you can learn healthy ways to respond to conflict, you need to know the common causes of conflict. In Nehemiah 5, you find four common causes: 1. Unmet basic needs. Unmet needs can be physical, emotional, relational, sexual, or financial. In Nehemiah’s time, it was a physical need: People were hungry. They were working to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem but encountered a famine. The people said, “We have such large families. We need more food to survive” (Nehemiah 5:2 NLT). 2. Falling behind. When you feel like you’re not making any progress, it’s easy to become cranky. And that’s always a good setup for conflict. The people in Jerusalem were going deeper and deeper in debt during the famine because goods were in short supply and prices were inflated. They said, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine” (Nehemiah 5:3 NLT). They couldn’t keep up! 3. Insensitive leaders. Conflict is inevitable when the people who have the power don’t do something about the problem.  In addition to famine, the people of Israel were barely surviving because of insensitive leaders: “We have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes” (Nehemiah 5:4 NLT). Even though they were in a famine they couldn’t control, the leadership wasn’t giving anyone a tax break. 4. Feeling powerless to change things. It can be frustrating when you see other people thriving around you while you’re unable to make ends meet. People all around the world feel this way. In Nehemiah’s time, the wealthy landowners exploited the poor. They even bought the people’s children as slaves! The people said, “We must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live . . . and we are helpless to do anything about it, for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others” (Nehemiah 5:5 NLT). Now that you know the causes of conflict, you need to know the biblical way to respond. Tomorrow we’ll look at three ways to earn the respect of others during times of conflict. [PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>]( Talk It Over - What unmet needs do you see in the community around you? What step you can take to address one of those needs this week? - When have you felt behind on a project or to-do list. How did that feeling of not making progress lead to conflict with other people? - Think of someone who is a sensitive leader, not an insensitive leader. What positive things about that person stand out to you? The post [What Causes Conflict?]( appeared first on [Pastor Rick's Daily Hope](. 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[LEARN MORE]( [Series Summary]( Message 1: Making a Plan to Improve Your Life Message 2: Enlisting Support for Your Dream Message 3: Getting People to Work Together Message 4: How to Handle Insults and Ridicule Message 5: When You Feel Like Giving Up Message 6: How to Earn the Respect of Others [PLAY TODAY'S BROADCAST]( Pastor Rick Warren [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Linkedin]( Enjoy today's devotional? Listen to Pastor Rick’s daily audio teaching at [PastorRick.com]( Did someone forward this devotional to you? [Subscribe to Pastor Rick Warren's Daily Devotional.]( As the founding pastor of Saddleback Church with his wife Kay, Dr. Rick Warren leads a 30,000-member congregation in California with campuses in major cities around the world. As an author, his book [The Purpose Driven Life]( is one of the best-selling nonfiction books in publishing history. It has been translated into 74 languages and sold more than 50 million copies in all formats. 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