Daily Devotionals

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

Devotional: December 17th

“Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out…”

Two men are quarreling. One delivers an angry blast and the other answers with a sharp retort. One charges heatedly and the other countercharges with equal vehemence. Neither is willing to stop lest his silence be counted as weakness or defeat. And so the fire increases in intensity and billows of hate roll back and forth.

But change the picture. One man levels a verbal barrage at his opponent, but receives no fire in return. He tries to aggravate, to irritate, to slander and to shame. But the other man refuses to join the fray. Finally the antagonist realizes he is wasting his time so he slinks off, mumbling and cursing. The fire went out because the defendant refused to add fuel to it.

Dr. H. A. Ironside often encountered people at the end of a meeting who wanted to argue with him over something he had said. Usually they were picking nits, not discussing some fundamental doctrine. Dr. Ironside would listen patiently, then when the contentious one came up for air, he would say, “Well, brother, when we get to heaven, one of us will be wrong, and perhaps it will be me.” That answer invariably freed the good Doctor to speak to somebody else.

How do we take criticism? Do we defend ourselves, return tit for tat, release all the critical thoughts we have ever entertained about the other person? Or do we say calmly, “Brother, I’m glad you don’t know me better, because if you did, you’d have a lot more to criticize.” A reply like this has put out many a fire.

I suppose that most of us have received a letter at some time fairly blasting us off the face of the earth. The natural reaction for us at such a time is to dip our pen in acid and deliver a stinging reply. This fuels the fire and pretty soon poison-pen letters are racing back and forth. How much better to write back one simple reply, “Dear brother, if you want to fight someone, please fight the devil.”

Life is too short to be spent in self-defense, in quarreling, or in heated words- These things divert us from what is of first importance, they lower our spiritual tone, and they impair our testimony. Others may carry the torch with which to deliberately start a fire, but we control the fuel. When we refuse to add fuel to the fire, the fire goes out.