Today we pick back up in the second chapter of Paul’s second letter to Timothy.
Remembering that Paul is in prison because of his unashamed preaching of the truth of Jesus Christ, I am amazed at his attitude toward those who oppose Christ. Check this out again:
22Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
What do you think Paul is saying here?
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Thursday, 27. May 2010
I REALLY like this chapter. The whole thing is excellent. But I’ll focus on answering the question, which is what Paul is saying in vv. 22-26.
I think “the evil desires of youth” would be called in modern language “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll”. Not that I think rock ‘n’ roll is bad. I personally am still not to the level of discipline in my life that I want to be and that I see a lot of older men (good role models) to be at. And this discipline would help me flee these evil desires.
Avoiding “foolish and stupid arguments”, I’ve commented about that on this blog before. It’s really hard but it’s worthwhile. After all, don’t we all respect the type of guy (or girl) who doesn’t talk much, but when he does, he has something really good to say?
And the worst thing I see is when Christians choose to rebuke each other harshly or with a mean spirit. I see it all the time, even on this blog in the past (I won’t name names) and I have done it at times as well. The typical excuse for this behavior is that God’s truth is more important than our feelings and not offending us, and while that’s true, it shouldn’t be an excuse to treat someone poorly!
Again, love love love this chapter, and I hope to see lots more responses on it than usual.
Thursday, 27. May 2010
I’ve got a couple of buddies who are always asking questions about Christianity and the Bible. As I get older, I think I’m able to tell more when someone is genuinely interested in discussion, and when they’re just trying to be disagreeable. If I see that the person has a bad attitude and is not really interacting with the information of the discussion, I usually just try to talk about something that has to do with them or their interests.
I think this 2 Timothy 2 passage can be abused, however, and give people an excuse to not explain themselves or their beliefs. Christians sometimes view debate of any kind, even if no genuine hostility is involved, as negative. This may feed the stereotype that we’re not scholarly or rational. Always be ready to give an answer for the hope thats in you (1 Peter 3:15).