Confronting Confrontation

 

There are times we have to deal with people and situations face to face. We may not want to, but sometimes we haven’t an alternative.

The church at Corinth was plagued with problems, one of which was their struggle with carnality. And in that struggle, there was much confrontation amongst members. To deal with that situation, Apostle Paul was forced into confronting confrontation.

To prepare for this fight, I believe that Paul must have drawn from his store of spiritual knowledge on how to live from a place of victory. He would have taken possession of his soul and not allow his personal feelings towards the Corinthians, the members themselves or their actions, to dominate the situation at hand.

Confronting confrontation requires sobriety where the mind is clear, emotions are checked, biases pushed aside and prayer to bring the whole sordid affair under subjection to God.

At the end of his letter to the church, Paul wrote,

Therefore I do not run without a definite goal; I do not flail around like one beating the air [just shadow boxing]. But [like a boxer] I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached [the gospel] to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified [as unfit for service]. – 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (AMP)

According to Paul, it is necessary to be razor focused on the task at hand. Distraction is not an option. But how do we get there?

Beloved, in confronting confrontation, it really all boils down to self-control or better yet soul-control; if you allow the body to take control, then eventually everything will end up out of control and that’s not where you want to be when addressing confrontational situations.

As you may already know, self-control is just one of nine elements that make up the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so, before confronting confrontation, look to the Spirit of God and follow His direction rather than the desires and temptations of your body.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “Confronting Confrontation” ©2026 February 15, 2026