“remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers” [2 timothy 2:14]
just as yesterday we dove into active remembrance, allowing the living word of God to transform our hearts, here we get a picture of what it looks like when we allow the word of God to pierce our hearts and souls and change our actions.
paul opens this verse with a charge, a charge to not quarrel. of all the things he could have charged us with, he charges us not to quarrel about words.
in a society like ours, words are everywhere, we are constantly surrounded by information and words. whether it’s text, print, audio or video, we are never lacking for words in our world today. and as we’re surrounded by words all the time, it’s easy for us to devalue them in our hearts and minds.
paul pauses here and reminds of the power of our words.
brothers and sisters, we are created in the image of God, who with his words spoke into existence all of life and creation. our words matter. the things we say have great impact in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.
how gracious paul is as he exhorts us from a tender pastoral heart! he reminds us of the truth of the gospel, shows us our sin and lifts our eyes off of ourselves to those around us.
as i sat and meditated on this verse, i was convicted, convicted of how many times my own words have not pointed those around me to my Savior and instead have done “no good” to the people who heard them. there’s been so many times that i’ve been in discussions that have led to useless debates on pointless topics which didn’t bless anyone, or point anyone to Christ but only served to boost the pride of the people engaged in the discussion.
this ought not be so! i pray that the Holy Spirit would use the word of God here to pierce our hearts and that our hearts would break in repentance as we allow the truth of this scripture to transform our hearts and lives and shape us into the image of Christ!
oh may we bear this in mind all the time, that as ambassadors of Christ, every word, every action and every deed are on display to the world. with everything that you do or say, you’re proclaiming to the world “this is what Jesus looks like” “this is how a follower of Christ acts.” how humbling, our lives are the visible representation of our savior here on earth!
may our hearts be humbled and take joy in the words of our Savior…
“i tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak…” [matthew 12:36]
“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” [acts 1:8]