"Stop it, or Else..."

How many times have we said or overheard someone say, it started out so small, but now….! They are usually referring to a disagreement or an altercation with someone that has escalated from a simple disagreement to an all out war. Pride, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, are all things that escalate a minor incident into a major problem.
We all saw the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans as the waters flowed over the levees  protecting the city. New Orleans is built below sea level so these levees are needed to keep the waters of the Gulf of Mexico from reaching places they would normally go if not held back. These levees are made of dirt. But all it takes is a little hole to open and then just a trickle of water flowing through that hole and you have the potential for disaster. There is tremendous pressure exerted by the water as it seeks to push against the dirt trying to get to its rightful place. One little prick and it begins to flow, as it flows it begins to eat away more dirt, making the hole bigger. As the whole gets bigger the water flow is increased, and it begins to build up momentum and before long what could have been stopped very easily has become a raging torrent that is unstoppable and devastating.
Proverbs 17:14 tells us “the beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out.”
The beginning of strife - that first disagreement or unkind word or deed etc. How many huge quarrels today started with a silly disagreement years ago - or a little thing that got blown way out of proportion and was never dealt with. Strife, like a dam bursting, almost always starts over a small thing. Families, churches, marriages, friendships divided by quarreling over issues that if you were to ask the parties involved could not even be remembered. Or if they could remember would be embarrassed at how insignificant a thing it really was at the time. How sad to see churches divide by great chasms between people because of quarrels that go back years and years. Strife has momentum. One thing leads to another, one person fires and the other fires back and before long you have a full blown war.
Solution - “quit before the quarrel breaks out.” Stop strife in it’s tracks. How? 15: 1 says “a soft answer turns away wrath,..” 17:9 says “whoever covers an offense seeks love…” When you are hurt, before you speak, pray. If something needs to be said, say it quietly, softly. When we choose to fight, get even, or shoot back we begin a process that begins to eat away at everything around us. And it will build momentum and become very difficult to stop the spreading devastation. In the beginning we have an opportunity to stop a quarrel from breaking out. The natural tendency of our sinful flesh is to strike back, get even, hold the grudge. We feel the pressure to do this. But we do not need to be controlled by our flesh. We need to ask God to help us respond to people and not just react to people. It only takes one person to stop strife. One person empowered by the Spirit of God, willing to love, willing to yield, willing to turn the other cheek, and what might have escalated into something huge has been stopped with the sandbags of forgiveness, love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, patience, and self-control.
Proverbs 17:14 “the beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out.”