What's Beef?

Used to be one of my favorite Biggie tracks! Not even gonna lie!

"Beef is when you roll no less than 30 deep! Beef is when I see you. Guaranteed to be an ICU. One more time; what's beef?"

Can't believe I even still remember that track. Debated as thee greatest rapper, Biggie asked the question, "What's Beef?" Well, I'm not about to write a post about his track from the "Live After Death" album. The way I will approach this post is from the christian perspective.

So what's beef? To get into an argument with another person or group of people

There's plenty of 'beef' in the bible; all throughout the bible! You have kings beefing with kings, tribes beefing with tribes, and wisdom as to how to handle beef throughout the bible as well.

Colossians 3:12-16 Therefore, God's chosen ones, holy and loved, put on hearfelt compassion, kindness, humitlity, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Above all, put on love- the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful.

There are a few things I love that are going on in this scripture that coaches us on how to handle beef.

Wear the right items! Verse 12 opens with telling us to PUT ON heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. These are very relational words Paul uses here which tells us these are things we have to do in order to keep a relationship healthy as well restore a broken one.
Be accepting! Accepting here means understanding where the person is in the moment. Immediately following that comes the attitude of forgiveness
Forgive! This is super important. Many people misunderstand forgiveness. Forgiveness has absolutely NOTHING to do with the wounder. Forgiveness does everything for the wounded. The wounded is freed from the bondage of holding grudges, bitterness, rage, dwelling over what happened, etc when they forgive.
Love! Stephen Covey said, "Whoever loves the longest wins." This is identified in this scripture because it says "Above all else put on love-the perfect bond of unity" (verse 14).