Competing self-interest is the cause for many fights and disagreements among people. When someone gets in the way of what we want to have or achieve then we get frustrated with them. Traffic is a great example. Whenever we experience ‘traffic’ we’re always contributing to the very problem that’s upsetting us. “How come so many other people are trying to get home at the same time as me?” I know it’s surprising, but our goals and routines are more similar to the people around us than we realise. Use a little empathic thinking, and you’ll see that your car is one of the cars blocking someone else’s journey.
Hence, conflict arises from trying to achieve the same thing (getting home), but just getting in the way of each other while doing it (everyone’s home happens to be in a different place unfortunately).
Submission to God means submitting our priorities to him. That means that treating people with kindness and respect even when they treat me badly (by cutting into my lane) is more important than how long it takes me to get home. That doesn’t mean I don’t go home at all—it means the way I conduct myself while heading home is of grave importance, because God has asked me to conduct myself a certain way. Submitting our plans and goals to God means sometimes it is better for us to give way to someone else even if we feel strongly that we have the right to be there. Couldn’t some wars have been avoided if that attitude was adopted by more people? It starts with us.