Psalm 119:60

Psalm 119:60 says, "I will hasten and not delay to obey Your commands."

I was thinking about that just the other day and I was wondering about how that would apply to all of our relationships.

When we consider that all relationship problems have to do with bad behavior or poor attitude on the part of one or both of the people involved, obedience to the Lord could have a huge impact.

In a conflict with a co-worker, a neighbor, a spouse, or anyone else, one of my questions (to myself) should be, "Am I obeying the Lord's commands right now?"

More often, our disobedience is in our hearts. We have jealousy or resentment or bitterness or revenge or something else that is in direct opposition to what God says we should do.

Sometimes one person's behavior is in DIRECT opposition to God's commands. The person is lying or cheating or abusing or whatever.

But what about the other person? Is his/her response to that sin one that obeys God's commands? One person's sin does not give the other person permission to sin as well.

Set boundaries. Leave. Walk away. But don't engage in sinful behavior yourself.

I often think that if two people in conflict were to decide to obey God's commands and live like the Bible says to, 90% of all conflicts would subside or go away. Truth is, though, that we are not perfect people and conflicts will always exist in some form. But if we are in a relationship and we determine to obey God's commands in our relationship, we may have far less conflicts and the ones we do have will at least be "fighting fair."

As a side note, it cannot be emphasized enough that if we are in a dangerous and abusive relationship, we must get out of the situation into a place of safety. We still have to obey God by guarding our heart and our attitude, but we must do it from a place of safety.