Contention and Forbearance

Today I'd like to write about contention. I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and then Sunday in church our lesson was about kindness. It's always amazing to me how when we are struggling, pondering, and praying about something, we can almost always count on some inspiration coming from our church meetings.  Recently my thoughts have been consumed with drawing nearer to the Spirit and avoiding the spirit of contention.  It seems there is so much contention in the world today, and I have noticed it spilling over into my work, my relationships, and most importantly my home and family.  I have tried to make a concerted effort to avoid this contention, and many times I have succeeded, but I often fail as well. 

In the lesson  we had yesterday, President George Albert Smith says, " The Spirit of the Lord is a spirit of kindness; it is a spirit of patience; it is a spirit of charity and love and forbearance and long suffering...Every influence for peace ought to be exercised. Lucifer is exercising every means to destroy the souls of the human family. He is more active than he has ever been and he works in such an insidious way."

I desire so much to have the Spirit of the Lord in my life every day, yet I struggle.  This quote helped me to understand better how I can approach conflicts and avoid this contention that Lucifer  uses to destroy us.  Kindness, patience, charity, love, forbearance, and long suffering.  If I can somehow learn to approach conflicts with these virtues, then I will be much closer to obtaining my goal.

The one I've been struggling with lately is forbearance.  Forbearance means to refrain or abstain from enforcement.  I can see how this principle is helpful when approaching conflicts, and in many situations it is probably the best approach, and the approach I tend to use most often.  However,  I believe that as a Latter-day Saint who is blessed with knowledge and truth, I also have a responsibility to stand up for that truth, so forbearance may  not always be the approach I should take.  I think that in our quest to be politically correct we have allowed evil to go unchallenged.  So my struggle lately has been about how I can stand up for truth, challenge evil, and still maintain the Spirit of the Lord?

According to President Smith, "If we can criticize constructively under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, we may change beneficially and properly some of the things that are being done."  These wise words remind me of my  responsibility, and also teach me that if I can find a way to stand against evil in a loving and kind way, I may actually be able to change some things for good.  In Doctrine and Covenants 1:31 it says that though the Lord loves the sinner, he "cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance."  I also found a quote from Elder Russell M. Nelson, which says, "Real love for the sinner may compel courageous confrontation--not acquiescence!"  These truths remind me that I do have a responsibility to stand up for truth, but I must remember always to do it in a loving, Christlike way, or I will lose the Spirit and invite contention. 

I'm a work in progress.  I just pray that every day I can drawer nearer to the Spirit of the Lord instead of further from it.  And I pray that I can have the courage I need to stand up for what is right, but humility enough to do it in a way that invites His spirit.