Devotion - Thursday, February 10

I continue to read from II Timothy. This morning section is chapter 2, verses 14-26. Paul continues to give pastoral (fatherly) advise to his youthful co-worker. He encourages him to be the kind of person who will build up the community of Christ.

He tells him, "Have nothing to do with stupid, senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels."

I am sure that Timothy nodded his head in agreement to these words. In reading them, most of us would likewise agree to their insight. "Stupid, senseless controversies" are precisely that - stupid and senseless. They produce quarrels because their content is in the end of no real importance to anyone.

We nod in agreement, thinking that Paul's words apply to "stupid, senseless controversies," but not the kind which gnaw at us. Our controversies are important, and essential. "So what if they breed quarrels," we tell ourselves. "This is important."

One of the best ways to gauge the stupidity level of a controversy is to discuss it with another person. Not someone inclined to take our side from the get-go, but someone who can be objective. They may help us determine whether that which we believe to be so important is really all that important at all.

Paul writes to Timothy from prison. He is facing execution. In that position, things which matter rise to the surface. If Timothy remembered this surely he would have understood that so many of the things he saw as important were more appropriately relegated to the stupid and senseless.

I pray that none of you face imprisonment or execution. It is my prayer, however, that each of us be able to more accurately evaluate between that which matters and that which is only likely to breed quarrels among us.