DEFUSING A BOMB
The setting is modern day Iraq. A soldier specially trained is cautiously approaching a large cigar-shaped bomb capable of destroying the lives of anyone within half a block. He has good intentions of defusing it and making peace instead of destruction. But the bomb is a real threat -- it is dangerous and any wrong move, any wrong wire that is cut is instant death.
When you see a bomb, the temptation is anger - to kick, to scream, to take a hammer and pound that bomb. But will that have any effect? Yes! It will explode and you with it! Many others will be killed as well. You don't fight a bomb with another bomb.
Every difference of opinion is like a bomb which has the potential to destroy everything around it. And so every conflict has even more potential for damage.
How do you defuse a bomb? How do you defuse the bomb of conflict? Of offense? Of differences of view or opinion? There is a special key to keeping the peace -- to defusing the bomb. How do you defuse a bomb of conflict? With humility! You defuse it with gentleness, with love, with humility. Humility is the key to disarming any attack. As Paul wrote: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him..."