Pam Padgett ... teacher
Proverbs 20:3 It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.
The flesh loves to be "right" and tries to gain honor for itself by proving it is right. Much strife results in doing this.
But wisdom from God is that it is an honor to cease from strife. We
receive honor from God as we keep the flesh from entering into strife,
and go in the ways the Holy Spirit leads in the situation.
Recently while reading the following, it stood out to me that after
Jesus did wonderful things ... teaching that it is lawful to do well on
the sabbath, and healing the man with the withered hand ... the
Pharisees wanted to destroy Jesus.
Matthew 12:10 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand
withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the
sabbath days? that they might accuse him. 11 And he said unto them, What
man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall
into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it
out? 12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is
lawful to do well on the sabbath days. 13 Then saith he to the man,
Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored
whole, like as the other. 14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a
council against him, how they might destroy him.
Jesus lived in the flesh as we do, being tempted in all ways as we are.
But He didn't allow His flesh to rise up and enter into strife with the
Pharisees. Instead, Jesus continued in the way that pleased the Father
and which had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah ...
Matthew 12:15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from
thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; 16
And charged them that they should not make him known: 17 That it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 18 Behold
my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well
pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to
the Gentiles. 19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man
hear his voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and
smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto
victory. 21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
Strife is a work of the flesh. It leads to death, not honor and life.
Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Several years ago I had been meditating in scripture about strife being a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) and not entering
into strife. About that time two electricians came to run an extra
circuit for some work being done at my house. The head electrician told
me they would run a metal pipe around two sides of the house. Knowing
this would look very ugly, I asked if he could run it through the
basement. He gave a reason he couldn't do this. Then I asked if he
could run 2 new circuits instead of one. Again he gave a reason this
couldn't be done. Although I felt these were excuses rather than
legitimate reasons, and my flesh wanted to rise up and strive with him,
there was strength to keep my flesh under control and I quietly turned
to God and committed the situation to Him to work out as He willed. I
knew I had been strengthened to not strive by God when meditating in His word, and was so joyful and
grateful to Him as I saw this come forth in my life.
And God did work the problem out for me. Wasps were in an area the
electricians needed to work in to do what they planned. Since I hadn't
entered into strife with the electricians, I wasn't angry and wanted to
help them not be hurt by the wasps. I went to the store to get spray to
kill the wasps. While waiting for me to get back with the spray, the
electricians looked around and found a way to run 2 circuits through the
attic, with no ugly metal pipes on the outside of the house.