RTW 2023

Starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate, so stop before a dispute breaks out.
Proverbs 17:14

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.
Proverbs 17:14 (AMPC)

It is hard to stop a quarrel once it starts, so don’t let it begin.
Proverbs 17:14 (TLB)

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Contention

• a struggling together in opposition; strife.
• a striving in rivalry; competition; contest.
• strife in debate; dispute; controversy.

Solomon is saying to stop strife before it starts. That sounds good in theory, but how do you do that?

Solomon fully supports the practice of bud nipping.

Sometimes we have to nip it in the bud.

How can we stop strife, contention, and quarreling before they start? How can we fully obey Romans 12:18 (TLB), “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone?”

Start with peace with God

• When people’s lives please the LORD, even their enemies are at peace with them.
  Proverbs 16:7

But if that doesn’t seem to be working…

Sometimes we have to shut our mouth, well, maybe never even open it.

• A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating.
  Proverbs 18:6 (ESV)

Sometimes we just have to walk away

• It is an honor for a man to cease from strife and keep aloof from it, but every fool will quarrel.
  Proverbs 20:3 (AMPC)

• Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do right. Let him search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!]
  1 Peter 3:11 (AMPC)

Nine Lessons To Dealing With Conflict

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A wise servant will rule over the master’s disgraceful son and will share the inheritance of the master’s children.
Proverbs 17:2

I love provision for the servant! I am called to serve and will have a great inheritance. How do I respond to disgraceful people?

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Be at peace with God, and adopt the nip-it-in-the-bud method of contention.

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