CAUSES OF STRIFE. Pro 20:3 It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. Definition of strife. Strife means angry or violent conflict between people.
There is strife everywhere; at home, at the workplace, in the church, etc., and it breaks human relationships.
There is no area of life left untouched by this dangerous thing called strife. At home, we find strife between the husband and wife, between children and parents, and among brothers and sisters. Causes of Strife. Hatred. Pro 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. Hatred causes strife. For example, on your first day at work as you were being introduced to your new team, you were maybe happy.
But later on, you realized that there was this one individual on the team with whom there was no connection, you couldn't get along with that person.
Initially you tried being kind to him but slowly began to dislike the person. Later you started avoiding him and even started hating him.
This hatred may burst forth one day, but until that moment the person may not even have been aware that you disliked him.
Anger. Pro 15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. All of us tend to get angry. The feelings of wrath that build in us have to be channeled right. We must be angry about the right things such as sin and injustice.
But some of us have this fiery thing inside of us and even a little thing that someone says or does causes us to flare up. Our uncontrollable tempers may have caused us more strife than we can imagine.
Gossiping or Backbiting. For example, consider the case of two good friends. Assume when one friend is away on a holiday someone else backbites about him to his good friend. When the friend returns, he finds his friend behaving strangely.
This is because there was a backbiter around. Likewise, when we unintentionally gossip about people, we are sowing seeds of strife that destroys good relationships between people. Pro 16:28 A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends. Being Contentious or Quarrelsome. Pro 26:21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. With a quarrelsome person, whatever we utter or do causes him or her to get angry. Something that is part of his personality causes him to be quiarrelsome and causes strife that breaks down relationships with everyone else.
It's not because other people are wrong but it's because something is wrong with his personality that causes him or her to be contentious. Foolish Questions. For example, you may decide to witness to your college friend, Ann, who is from a Christian background but is not a believer yet, and you ask her gently why she does not attend church.
She immediately asks you if you are one of those born-again types. That question hits you and you begin asking God for wisdom to answer that. You may get upset and walk out on her. Thus it is prudent to avoid questions that stir up strife.
Demonic Activity. Strife and confusion can also be caused by demonic activity.Though most times, we are responsible for the strife in our lives, there are times when strife and confusion in our relationships can be directly caused because of what the devil is trying to do.