Where there is pride, there is strife.

Where there is strife, there is pride. (Pr 13:10a)

Few like strife, but it is with us.

An argument, a child throwing a tantrum, someone maligning another, a fight; strife comes in many different forms, in many different settings, by many different people.

We may even be the cause of strife ourselves: an impatient heart, not getting our own way, anger, speaking out of turn, etc (c.f. Ja 4:1–3).

Proverbs 13:10 is very revealing. When there is strife know that it is because of pride. Pride is the desire to be as God, to be worshipped, the centre, to have our own way, to determine right and wrong. It may be someone elses pride, it may be your pride or it may be two or more people’s pride, but what it cannot be is no-one’s pride!

Wherever there is pride there is the need for repentance and the Lord’s forgiveness in the Gospel. Repentance—a humbling—is always the solution to strife and always produces peace.
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When there is strife, we must diligently examine our own hearts. Are we at peace with the Lord? What is the cause of any strife in my life? Next, so far as it depends on us (Ro 12:18), are we living at peace with all people (even seeking to be peacemakers)? These two steps won’t necessarily remove strife from us if its presence is beyond our control but may it not be said of us that we were the stirrers of strife for that is pride and pride is sin.