There are times when reading Scripture where I feel like a lighting bolt struck the page and something is made very, very clear to me. That happened this morning while in 2 Timothy.
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.2 Timothy 2:22-26
This is a very dense passage that hit me hard today. I’d like to share few notes of mine on this passage, then a quote from Calvin’s commentary on verse 22:
- We are called to grow and mature through the pursuit of what Jesus taught
- We are not to take up this pursuit alone, but with other Christians in community
- We are to be kind and humble towards those that disagree with our doctrine, while patiently teaching the truth
If some debate has arisen, young men more quickly grow warm, are more easily irritated, more frequently blunder through want of experience, and rush forward with greater confidence and rashness, than men of riper age.
Calvin, J., & Pringle, W. (2010). Commentaries on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon (232). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
I think those are certainly words well worth heeding in my life.
