Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. – 2 Timothy 2:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 2, 2015): 2 Timothy 2

Mom said it. “If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.” Too bad old mom didn’t understand the way that our world works. Sometimes you just have to put people in their place. We need to be able to stand up for ourselves, and say the things that just need to be said. And, sometimes, that means that there is no room to “be nice.” At least, that is what I am frequently told. It is the reality in which we all need to live. We are not supposed to be door mats, just letting others run over us. We need to stand up for what is right.

Except that maybe mom was right. The problem with our quarreling is that it often settles nothing. It just drives a stake between people and keeps the distance between us ever widening. And when we are in the midst of the quarrel, we also know something else – we often say things that we really don’t mean – words that we never intended to say. I am told that that is somehow in the definition of “venting” – the saying of things that aren’t even necessarily true.

Paul warns Timothy to make sure that this is part of his teaching – tell them not to quarrel, especially over words. The problem is that we haven’t heard the words well. Church history is filled with quarrelling, and we seem to do it over everything – some important issues, and some not so much. And sometimes it is just the language that we argue over. The reality is that this is image that most of the world has of the church – in their eyes we are a group that is continually fighting within itself. I stand within a tradition that the world identifies as Baptist, and within our tradition is the idea that every congregation was the right and the responsibility to discover what God would have them do – and what God would have them believe. And yet, even within my tradition, we are divided, divided and divided again over, sometimes, some very silly things (just do an internet search on the words Christian and boycott.) And often the words are all that we are fighting over.

The message that as Christians we seem to miss is that we can get a lot further by encouraging each other to do good, then to condemn them for their failures. And only when we talk with each other will we come to understand the meaning of the words that we use. My prayer is that we will learn to dialogue, even over the hard issues. We have much to say and much to learn about each other, and the world would rather hear us talk, than fight.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Timothy 3