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Recall yestereday’s scripture on righteousness in 1 Timothy 6:11…

 ³If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, ⁴he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions ⁵and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.  

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 ¹¹But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Today’s scripture, also an exhortation for Timothy, reads thus…

 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.

There are many of us scientifically-minded Christians who find the beliefs of other Christians to be divisive and nonconstructive.  So, we go out to correct the world, criticize our brothers in the lord, side with those who are not of God because they understand the science that God has lovingly put in place for all to find, and end up being divisive ourselves.  Honestly, it is hard not to sometimes… especially for someone such as myself, who loves being right in an argument, and to find something that makes everyone around him wrong is a temptation that Paul taught to be an evil desire of youth.

Whether the earth is old or young will be, in some contexts, a foolish and stupid argument.  Why? Thankfully Paul answers that: “because you know they produce quarrels.”  And so I challenge any Christian feeling challenged by a fellow Christian’s beliefs: Do you know, even before you start, that a discussion will produce a quarrel?  Are you hiding behind the truth, self-righteously justifying your argument because hey, you’re the one seeing God’s message, right?  Well, let me say right now, that God’s message was never meant for quarreling. 

The Word is our sword, faith our shield, and righteousness our breastplate.  That is pretty specific, don’t you think?  If science is not the Word, then we have no business using it as a sword… but is science also God’s Word?  You could argue so, based on the fact that God spoke the universe into existence.  Christ is then the Living Word, science the not so living.  But both the word?  Well, suppose you believe that, then exactly who are you using your sword on? Other Christians? Think about that… using your Sword on other Christians.  Weather science is a sword from God not, God never meant us be using our sword on Christians.

So then what? Should we keep our understandings completely to ourselves? Well, to some extent I suppose we should. Because anyone who likes a good argument… whether his victim likes such arguments or not, is being juvenile.  Instead, follow verses 22 to 26 above:

• Flee your desire to argue, just for the opportunity to be right (vs. 22)
• Arguments that common sense (the Holy Spirit?) tells you will produce quarrel are arguments you should stay away from (vs. 23)
• Be kind
• Be able and ready to teach what you know, and do not be resentful while you are not! (vs. 24)
• If someone presents an opposing view, then gently instruct, but leave the word to God (vs. 25)

And realize that while you then move on to vs. 26, hoping they come to their senses, hence escaping the trap of the devil… realize they are doing the same for you!  Because you are both on the same team… the team of Christ Jesus.  And so with everyone on the team of Christ Jesus, go back to vs. 22 again: “Flee 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.”  In other words, we were never supposed to be opposed to those who love us in Christ.  That was a trick of the devil, and while it may well be that they have fallen for the devil’s lie about creation (the creation of story of the ancient middle east), they embrace all of the truth God injected into that story, which is the truth that God did.  Therefore, I contend that it is we who fall for the bait, not them, when we fail to realize that the church has embraced the only truth that God requires… that He is God, the only One, and that He sent His Son die for our sins on the cross.  There is a famous quote from The Godfather, that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”  Don’t make God’s loving followers your enemy; their enemy is the devil.  So, who will you choose for a friend?

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 8:25 am and is filed under Word Studies, Bible Commentary, Creationism, Devotional Notes, Walking with God, Righteousness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.