Avoiding Strife

“The servant of the Lord must not strive” (2 Timothy 2:24).

The word strive means fight, debate, argue, or quarrel. God wants his people to avoid strife. This is especially true for servants of God. But this applies to all Christians. God commands each of his children to avoid stife (Titus 3:1-3).

According to James 4:1, strife comes from the flesh. When our flesh desires something but doesn’t get it, we can start fighting. For example, a child may want a toy, doesn’t get it, and then starts fighting for it. He may scream and throw a tantrum or hit others. An adult may want respect, not get it, and then start fighting to get respect. He may become angry, start shouting at others, or become bitter.

When we take matters into our own hands, we start fighting and striving. Strife is a sign of unbelief, because we are not trusting God to take care of us. When we trust in God for a situation, we won’t strive about it.

We don’t need to fight for our rights. God will fight for us. We can entrust ourselves to God, and he will take care of us. We don’t need to strive. Our flesh won’t deliver us; God will deliver us. Our job is to obey God. As we obey him, he will work on our behalf.

Strife is a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:20). It is a sin that is in the same category as sexual immorality (Romans 13:13). Just as Christians are commanded to avoid sexual immorality, so we must avoid strife.

Strife is a sign of carnality. When we strive, we show that we are spiritually immature and still in the flesh. God wants us to grow to become spiritually mature. When we become mature, we will stop striving. Spiritual growth happens as we obey God.

The New Testament has a lot to say about strife.

It says we should avoid people who cause divisions in the body of Christ contrary to the teaching of the apostles (Romans 16:17). When we encounter those who actively promote teachings contrary to the New Testament, we don’t need to fight with them. We can admonish them once or twice, and then reject them (Titus 3:10).

The New Testament tells us not to quarrel with those who are weak in faith (Romans 14:1). Someone may be weak in faith about what to eat, what to wear, or another issue. We should not fight with them about these issues. A person who is weak in faith should be encouraged to become strong in faith. When he becomes strong in faith, these other issues will get sorted out.

We are commanded to have nothing to do with foolish and ignorant disputes (2 Timothy 2:23). Often people strive about foolish and ignorant things. They strive about things they lack information about (or are ignorant of). If they had more accurate information, the strife would disappear.

Foolish disputes sometimes arise over very minor issues. Looking back, it can be amazing how big a mountain is made out of a small molehill. In the larger picture, a lot of strife appears very foolish. We need to discern these foolish disputes and avoid them.

We should not fight about the law (Titus 3:9). Some people will have differing interpretations of what the symbols of the law mean. For example, what does the color purple symbolize on the garment of the high priest? This is not something we need to fight about. We can pray and hopefully the Holy Spirit will lead us to an answer. But we don’t need to fight with our brothers and sisters about issues like this.

The Bible tells us to avoid strife. Strife is a sin. It is a work of the flesh and a sign of immaturity. It will not lead to anyone’s deliverance and will bring us into bondage.Sometimes conflict is unavoidable. We live in a world that is often dominated by Satan, and we must take up our cross. This will involve conflict. But any conflict we enter into must be by the Holy Spirit and not by the flesh.

God wants us to earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 3). This means the Holy Spirit must work through us. This involves prayer, dialogue, presenting the truth, and humility. Earnestly contending for the faith is very different from strife. One is a work of the Holy Spirit, the other is a work of the flesh. As we understand what the New Testament says about strife, and are guided by the Holy Spirit, we will be able to discern the difference.