He makes your load lighter and your burdens easier to bear
- rhondacochran
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. ~Proverbs 17:1 (NIV)
The Lord tells us in His word that Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, and Solomon said it was better to live with a dry crust and have peace, than to have feasting with strife. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever had contentment in every area of your life except a relationship? Having strife in just one relationship is like having a thorn in your finger. It’s going to bother you until you get it out. Just like that thorn, strife will bother you until you get it out of your life. Another word for strife is discord, and the root meaning of discord is to be out of harmony. Being out of harmony with family, friends and even coworkers is unsettling. Therefore, peace and harmony should be our great pursuit. God tells us in Psalm 34:14 “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (NIV) Again, in 1 Peter 3:10-11 the Lord says “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.” (NIV) Both of these scriptures advise that to initiate that pursuit for peace in our lives, we must “turn from evil and do good” and we must “keep our tongue from evil”. In other words, our actions and our words should be godly and positive, not evil if we want to see more harmony and less strife in our lives.
We are either blessing or cursing the people around us by our actions and words. We are either lifting them up or tearing them down. There is no in between. That is how powerful words are. The word of God framed this world and everything in it and God says our words frame our world. When you take the bait and throw out that critical or condescending word to or about someone remember that it is not a flippant act. It is an act that is going to bring a harvest. That harvest is strife. It’s time to set our faces like flint and prepare for battle when it comes to our relationships. It’s time we let go of the strife and pursue peace with all our might. If we continue to hold on to our negative attitudes, we need to realize we are throwing our peace out the window with every wrong step and every wrong word. Peace and strife cannot coexist. The Lord tells us in 1 John 4:17 “As we live in God, our love grows more perfect…” (NIV) Is your love growing more perfect every day? If not, you might want to evaluate how much time you are spending in your relationship with the Lord. We won’t walk in love with anyone until we walk with God. His presence alone will bring us into a place of peace and harmony. He makes our load lighter and our burdens easier to bear. Don’t let discord and strife block the anointing of God in your life today. Seek peace and pursue it by loving others and choosing positive words. You can’t control what others do but you have complete control over how you are going to act and react.
So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord; ~Acts 3:19 (AMPC)
Do you have strife in your life? How is the Lord instructing you to root it out?
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