Key Verse: Verses 7 –“And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land."
Key Words: And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle
Not to be redundant, but note again the words found in verse 7, “And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.”
It was bad enough for the brethren to disagree, but to have strife between them in the presence of the ungodly Canaanite and Perizzite over material possessions was even worse.
I have a couple of sayings that go as follows. “Pick and choose your battles carefully, and always remember, you can win the battle but lose the war.” These brethren had surely lost the war. These Canaanites and Perizzites had to be thinking that “our god is better than this.” That’s why Paul warned, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:14-15)
In one of Aesop’s Fables we read...”On a summer day, when the great heat induced a general thirst among the beasts, a Lion and Boar came at the same moment to a small well to drink. They fiercely disputed which of them should drink first, and were soon engaged in the agonies of a mortal combat. When they stopped suddenly to catch their breath for a fiercer renewal of the fight, they saw some Vultures waiting in the distance to feast on the one that should fall first. They at once made up their quarrel, saying, ‘It is better for us to make friends, than to become the food of Crows or Vultures.’ The moral of the story is: when Christians fight among themselves, the vultures of the pagan world lie ready to attack Christianity.”
What to do:
✞ Pick and choose your battle carefully and remember, you may win the battle of strife, but will you lose the war?
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