1 Samuel 17:10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
This is Goliath calling out David. I hate being challenged. It brings out the warrior in me. With me it isn’t physical but intellect. I know the truth, I depend on the truth, the truth is my sword. My first instinct is to do battle. This has to change.
The example set forth in this story is not the armor, the weapons, or even the victory, but rather the attitude. When challenged I would come out as a Goliath, all proud, defiant, boisterous, well-armed and an imposing figure. Who could stand against me?
I never gave thought to the person in front of me. It never occurred to me that they might think that they were right and that they did not come to do battle. All they came for was to share an opinion, not do battle.
Now if I had received them as David, without armor, without weapons of mass destruction, in the humility of knowing that God is my shield and not my intellect, then I stand a better chance of winning a brother than wounding him, perhaps even destroying him.
At the root of all this is conflict of conscience. We all want to be right, but being right is not the same thing as the desire to be right.
Psalm 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Once heard someone say, I think it was back in the Dr. Phil days, do you want to be right or do you want to have relationship. Stuck with me.
A woman I once knew won every argument she ever had with her husband. She is now married to someone else. If she is still married to that one, I do not know, we lost touch.
You should also pick your battles carefully. Will it really make a difference in 5 years?