Proverbs 20:3 · World English Bible
Proverbs 20:3 Meaning It Is an Honor for a Man
It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling.
What does Proverbs 20:3 mean?
To cease from strife is the mind's quiet choice of the teacher of peace over the teacher of conflict. There is no honor in winning the quarrel, because every quarrel assumes an enemy, and the enemy is only the mind's own guilt met in another's face.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Proverbs 20:3 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
To cease from strife is the mind's quiet choice of the teacher of peace over the teacher of conflict. There is no honor in winning the quarrel, because every quarrel assumes an enemy, and the enemy is only the mind's own guilt met in another's face. Laying the argument down is the recognition that there was never anything real to fight.
The foolishness that keeps meddling is the ego's need to be right, forever entering conflicts to prove the separation it depends on. A mind grows not by prevailing but by withdrawing from the battle, seeing the other as innocent, and keeping the peace that was never actually in danger.
Christian Psychology lensGo deeper in the app
Christian Psychology lens
Live Proverbs 20:3 today
- When a reply is already written in your head and your thumb is hovering, close the app instead. Let the last word belong to someone else and watch how little it actually costs you.
- In a conversation with someone close to you, drop the part where you prove you were right. Just say what you want for the two of you and let the scorekeeping go.
- In a meeting where someone takes a shot at your work, answer the question and skip the defense. You can be calm and clear at the same time, and the calm is what people will remember.
What would I have to stop protecting for this argument to simply end?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 22
The sage does not contend, and so no one can contend with him. Standing down is not weakness, it is the one position nothing can push against.
Stoicism · Epictetus
Nobody can truly harm you without your agreement, so an insult only becomes a wound when you pick it up. Set it down and there is nothing left to fight about.
Buddhism · Dhammapada
Hatred never ends through more hatred, only through letting it go. The quarrel feeds on being answered.
Free · No account needed
Read all of Proverbs 20 through 17 lenses
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store