Out of the Mouth comes the Heart

Lately there has been a lot of drama in my life more than I care for anyways, and so I felt I should share some Biblical thoughts that can be applied to every day conflict. In Matthew 15:11 it says, "What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean." This was a verse I really had to remember last night in a meeting with my team. Sometimes it's better not to say anything then to say something you are going to regret. So I bit my lip and then when confronted I said what I needed to but I made sure to make sure that the words coming out of my mouth were civil and that they reflected the love in my heart. That's an important thing to remember, say things in love always. Matthew 18:15-17 states, ¹⁵ “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
So lets dissect this a little bit.
Step 1. vs. 15 - talk to the person 1 on 1
Step 2. vs. 16 - confront the person again with 1 or 2 others to act as witness
Step 3. vs. 17 - tell it to the church
Step 4. vs. 17 - if they still don't listen ignore them and treat them like pagans.
This passage has been super helpful to me lately and i think it is important to remember to confront the person 1 on 1 first cause sometimes that's a hard thing to do cause you want others on your side, but that is the 2nd step not the 1st.
Hope this helps people to better deal with conflict.