Would they win by arguing? Never, a small-town leader warned residents in Adirondack Park where a pitched battle between environmentalists and small-business owners ignited the “Adirondack Wars.” The name described their fight whether to save the area’s pristine wilderness in upstate New York or develop it.

“Go back wherever you came from!” a local leader had shouted at an environmentalist. But soon a new message emerged. “Don’t yell at each other. Try to talk to each other.” A Common Ground Alliance was formed to build bridges between warring factions. Civic dialogue led to progress—with nearly a million acres of wild land protected even as Adirondack towns grew more prosperous than they’d been in twenty years.

Peaceful coexistence is a start, but Paul taught something even better. To the new believers in Colosse, he said, “Rid yourselves of . . . anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” (Colossians 3:8). Paul urged them to exchange their old ways for a new nature in Christ. “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” he wrote (v. 12).

The invitation is offered today to all believers: surrender our old cantankerous lives to new life in Christ. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace” (v. 15). Then, in our peace, the world will see Jesus.