“Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.” – 2 Timothy 2:7

If team members don’t trust one another, they will not engage in open, constructive ideological conflict. In the end they will just continue to maintain a sense of artificial harmony. In his book “The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business”, Patrick Lencioni wrote, “When there is trust, conflict becomes nothing but the pursuit of truth, an attempt to find the best possible answer.” Asking questions is the key to understanding, and engaging in healthy debate will help us to find solutions to the complexity of things.

Similarly, when it comes to studying the Word of God, if we do not engage in healthy debates about how biblical affirmations fit together, we will never see the coherency of the scriptures and the beauty of unified divine truth.  John Piper wrote, “Insight or understanding is the product of intensive, headache-producing meditation on two or three verses and how they fit together. This kind of reflection and rumination is provoked by asking questions of the text.”

Every time we open His Words we should pray, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law”. (Ps 119:18) Without some kind of dilemma to stimulate thought, behavior will become habitual rather than thoughtful. Many people read the bible without reflecting on what it actually says, and as a result, they lack the insights of biblical truth to apply in the real life. We need to learn how to think biblically otherwise bible reading becomes dull and irrelevant to life.

Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for giving us your Word as a final authority in all areas of our lives. Please help us meditate and reflect on your Word daily so that we may gain insights to your divine truth. Amen.

Before we go, take a look at the questions below:

1. Based on your experience in teams, what are the differences between conflict where there is a lack of trust and conflict where trust is present?

2. Why is it said that healthy debate and questioning are crucial when studying the Word of God? Based on your experience, how can such debate and questioning help us to understand the meaning of the scriptures more deeply and apply them?

3. “If we don't dare to ask and don't allow any difficulties to stimulate our thinking, our actions will become thoughtless." Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?