A WORD TO THE WISE: "Firestarters" - Proverbs 26: 21

Proverbs 26: 21     As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.

Proverbs 26:21. Warmer weather means more barbecuing, so you should really be able to visualize this parable.

Imagine a man outside with a grill lined with charcoal that has burned down to that stage of white ash.  There’s no fire, and the coals are warm but not really hot. 
What happens when the cook adds a few pieces of fresh, quick-light charcoal briquettes?   Or, say he drops in a few dry hickory chips?
Soon, he’ll have fresh heat and brand new fire.

Some people are like fresh kindling; they’re firestarters.  They have a knack for transforming any old, almost resolved problem into a fresh crisis.  Just as there are people with a gift for peace-making, there are also people with a gift for problem-creating.

(What?  You didn’t know that Satan gave gifts to his servant?  James 1:17 says that every “good and perfect” gift comes from our heavenly Father.   Evil and corrupt gifts have another source.)

Patterns indicate character.  Review the times you thought things between you and So-and-so were getting better but then new drama broke out.    Is there a recurring connection between when things stopped improving and when you (or So-and-so) started listening to a certain person?  If so, you’ve found your firestarter.

Now, it may not be somebody else.  The problem might be that So-and-so is the firestarter (or that you are).  Firestarters feel uncomfortable when things get too quiet.  Firestarters subconsciously want to argue.  They feel validated by struggle so they create it in their own lives and in the lives of others.

If the firestarter lives in your house---- pray, pray, pray.  Hope the firestarter is you.  You can fix you. (Well, God can fix you, but you can volunteer yourself for the process.) 

If the firestarter in your life lives outside of your house---- keep them outside of your house and outside of your relationships.  Unless you want to burn both down.

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
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Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116