23 - Handling Problems Well

How many of us are facing a problem that’s still there because we didn’t address it? It’s not a new problem, it’s an old problem that didn’t go away. Most of us tend to avoid confronting issues hoping matters will resolve themselves with the passing of time, but if we’re honest with ourselves we’d have to admit that seldom happens. Things that are broken don’t fix themselves, projects don’t move forward without someone investing time and effort, and suspicion and alienation certainly aren’t healed without someone taking deliberate steps to reconcile. 

What we see in our lesson today is a problem being handled well. The rapid growth of the church had brought in people from different backgrounds, and it wasn’t long before old cultural divisions sprang up. Charges had been leveled at the apostles that they had shown favoritism toward one group over another, and the situation had the potential to divide the church and ruin it’s witness. But it didn’t. Instead, it became an opportunity for another miracle that stunned the community and caused even more people to want to become followers of Jesus. Instead of hurting the church’s growth, it accelerated it. So how the apostles handled that crisis is a marvelous example of how to handle problems in our own lives. And if we put these lessons into practice in 2013, 2014 should be a lot more stress-free.