Topic: Beware of Strife  [Church of God Mission International] Above Only Daily Devotional 15 May 2021

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Saturday May 15

Beware of Strife

Proverbs 15:18 (AMPC), Proverbs 16:18 (NLT), Proverbs 17:14 (AMPC), Proverbs 20:3 (AMPC) A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger appeases contention. *Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. *The beginning of strife is as when water first trickles [from a crack in a dam]; therefore stop contention before it becomes worse and quarreling breaks out. *It is an honor for a man to cease from strife and keep aloof from it, but every fool will quarrel.

A king that did not know Joseph arose in Egypt and all of a sudden, he became intimidated and apprehensive about the size and greatness of the children of Israel. He was worried that if a war occurred, the Israelites could join the enemies of the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians. This fear and paranoia led him to start maltreating the Israelites (Exo.1:8-11).

This is a good picture of how a lot of strife, hatred, arguments, quarrels and fighting emanate from irrelevant and unnecessary causes. Some people just feel like everybody hates them and everybody wants to cheat or harm them. They may have had some negative experiences in the past and are now allowing those experiences to manipulate and limit them. Haman began planning to wipe out all the Jews from the land of Shushan simply because he was informed that Mordecai refused to bow to greet him like everyone else (Esth.3:1-6). The disciples of Jesus once argued over who was the greatest among them (Luke 22:24).

The Bible says gossips (Prov.26:20) and scorners (Prov.22:10) produce strife. Strife is a work of the flesh (Gal.5:20). When we engage in strife, we are being carnal and behaving like mere men (1Cor.3:3, NKJV). Where there is envy and strife, there is confusion and every evil work (James 3:16). On the other hand, where there is love and unity, God is pleased and He commands His blessing there (Psa.133:1-3). Be a peacemaker. Follow peace with all men (Heb.12:14). Be spiritually minded. Walk in love and be selfless. Forgive and bear with others. “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Phil.2:3). Do not be overcome with evil. Overcome evil with good (Rom.12:21).

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, please help me to walk in love and to be merciful and selfless in my dealings with others. Use me to settle strife and not cause it.

Bible in One Year Reading Plan
1 Samuel 17:1-18:4, John 8:21-30, Psalm 111:1-10, Proverbs 15:11