Not at the top of your lungs
2 Timothy 2:24-26 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. (ESV)
This past week has been a whirlwind. So much has happened, so much has changed in my life, but through all of it, I am at peace with it, in God. God will never take us where he has not prepared the way for us. These roads will most likely be difficult in some way; we have the natural bend to take the easy routes. We may say that we learned our lesson the hard way, but we will not willingly take that hard way to learn a lesson. In our minds their must be an easier route with the same end result, surely we can find and pursue it; even to delay the straighter, quicker, more direct path that will produce the result that God intends, not what is out supposed will. In your growth as a Christian, you must come to that understanding of God’s Will in your life. With that understanding comes the peace inside you the world cannot understand. You have that peace, hope, and love that the situations that tear others down, build you up in Christ. When others see how you deal with these situations, their inquisitive natures want to know the why and how you deal with it differently.
As I read this passage in 2nd Timothy, I thought of the work God has, and is still doing in my life regarding my temper. He has done great things inside me to defeat that demon of anger and rage. I had a short fuse, and my speech was my fists. My words could tear down; it hurts indescribably when I see them still surface every now and then, especially in the discipline of my boys. I have, and continue to pray for God’s hand in the Sanctification of that demon I battle. When you face those situations that stir you up, and you remain calm in the Spirit, others are amazed at your ability to do so. This is the perfect time to share the hope that lies within you, the work that Christ has done inside you, the peace that you possess. 1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. God may be opening their hearts through their eyes in witnessing the power of a calm Spirit that is living inside of you. He may be using you, to draw others to himself in the midst of a confrontation. Their lives may never be the same as a result of you not loosing your temper in the first place.
Think of this passage in the context of which it was used to Timothy. Paul was charging Timothy to preach the truth; to correct and convict those in their error. He was not to do this in battle, but in a loving spirit. One of my favorite pastors, Adrian Rogers once said, “Preach not with anger, but anguish.” Your heart should hurt for those lost souls. You can never save someone yourself, but you can show them the way to Salvation, and the err of their ways. This does not have to be at the top of our lungs, but with a gentle Spirit in which the love of Christ is shown. Paul knew the battles that Timothy would face as a preacher of the truth, and he did not want Timothy to become silent as a result of the opposition he would face.
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