Proverbs 17:1. Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
Would you rather have stale toast but with peace and quiet, or filet mignon and lobster with belittling and arguing? Pass the toast please.
This proverb is reminding us of two very important life principles. The first is that, often, the more you have, the more you have to fight over. The temptation we all face is believing that having more things can buy not just happiness, but peace as well. But the opposite is usually closer to the truth; the more we get the more we want, and the more we want, the more we are dissatisfied. The more we have, the more we have to fight over.
The second principle is even more simple: quiet is better than strife. Spiritual tranquility is far more important in a home than “feasting.” Is your home full of peace or is it full of strife?
The word quiet here doesn’t mean that no one ever talks, or laughs, or has a good conversation. It means that you are not arguing and bickering with each other, antagonizing and provoking each other. Quiet in a house shows that there is peace, contentment, and safety. By contrast, constant strife in a home is exhausting and menacing. It removes all security and puts everyone on eggshells. Even occasions that are meant to be full of joy and celebration turn into another chance to attack our loved ones. This is seen in the specific language used in the second half of the proverb. Feasting refers to the ritual feasts held in the home after specific holy days in the Jewish calendar. Strife is literally “strife-offerings,” a play on the “peace-offering” that was supposed to grace the family table.
Maybe images of your last family Thanksgiving or Christmas are coming to mind. Or that birthday party or anniversary celebration. You know, the one where the family all got together and proceeded to judge each other and bring up past mistakes. Or maybe your daily dinnertime ritual involves seeing just how far we can all push each other, with debates, disagreements, and disparaging comments.
In the New Testament church of Corinth, the “Love Feast” (communion or Lord’s Table), a time when the church family gathered to celebrate and remember the sacrifice of Christ and to experience his presence in their unity, had become a “Strife Feast.” The rich separated themselves from the poor. Some people got drunk. Others went hungry. Paul describes their church pot-luck as doing “more harm than good” (see 1 Cor. 11).
Paul’s solution? He took them right back to the gospel. To their union with Christ. “Discern the body” he says. The literal body of Christ crucified on the cross? The spiritual body of Christ, the church? Yes.
The more we understand and accept that we are the living body of Christ, literally, the crucified Christ lives in us and through us, the more we will understand that we are unified in his love and empowered to emulate his sacrifice. The more we trust that we have peace WITH God by the blood of Christ and the peace OF God alive in us by the Spirit, the more we will be able to forsake strife and strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
In Christ we don’t have to choose between dry morsels with peace and feasts with strife. We can and should have his peace and share his feast at the same time.
You: How peaceful is your life? How much strife do you tend to cause?
You in Christ: In what ways have you seen the peace of Christ overwhelming your desire to stir up trouble and strife lately?
Christ in you: How does the peace of Christ in you allow you to strive for peace in every relationship?
Pray: Father, may my peace with you in Christ bring peace within the body of Christ. Amen.
To Live is Christ 