Bloodied nose brings peace

Jul

15

2009

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Jul

15

2009

When I was in high school I had a friend who was about five feet nothing and weighed no more than a hundred pounds or so. It seems that every time I turned around he was getting me into a fight. I did not like bullies and for some reason every bully in school liked to pick on my little friend.

I would see someone picking on him and go up to them and say, “You want to pick on this little guy? Well how about picking on someone your own size?”

BAM! I would hit them hard right in the mouth and round and round we would go.

It took me a while but I finally caught on to the fact that no one was picking on him, instead he was running his mouth to them in the hopes that they would pick a fight with him and I would finish it.

Hmmm… The next time he tried it was on a Friday night at our local hangout. He had been drinking beer and he went right up to this big burly football player and started in on him. The player told him to get lost and after making sure that I was watching, my little buddy called him out.

The football player accepted the challenge and I just stood by and watched with amusement. There were only two licks in the fight. The football player hit him hard right in the nose and my little friend hit the pavement. He had a broken nose and two black eyes and he nursed them for weeks. I had little trouble with that problem again.

I have noticed that trouble makers are everywhere that people assemble, including, or perhaps especially, in churches. As a business owner I cut such people out of my organization much the same as my dermatologist carves away the cancerous lesions that so often appear on my body from too much sun exposure. Like cancer, failure to get rid of them can lead to serious consequences to any organization. I fired hundreds of them and was glad I did.

What about our so called “friends” and even some family members who are always contentious? Simply ignore them and have nothing more to do with them and hope that they will go away, which in effect, “fires” them. Or if you are the “froggy” type, tell them to get lost and that you are tired of their contentious nature. I prefer this more direct route, but you may not.

In a church it can be more difficult to root out the trouble makers, but ignoring them works because most, (like my little buddy in high school), seem to thrive on “stirring the pot” and watching others fight it out; they thrive on ranting to anyone who will listen. It takes two to consummate contentious behavior and unless they want to stand in front of a mirror and do it the problem gets solved by simply ignoring them.

Personally I think it is better to cast them out of the congregation; however I have observed that most preachers and deacon’s committees don’t have much of a backbone for that drastic action and perhaps they are right.

The important thing is that you cannot continue to contend with them if you hope to enjoy any peace and quiet. The two are diametrically opposite.

Is anyone in your personal sphere contentious? Then you know what to do Either suffer or get them out of your personal space.

BTW – This is an age old problem. Solomon offered this advice over two thousand years ago.

Proverbs 29:9
If a wise man contends with a
foolish man,
Whether the fool rages or
laughs, there is no peace.

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