It Starts Small

God’s Word provides detailed explanation of Heavenly wisdom, which leads to godliness, or earthy demonic wisdom which leads to corruption.

Today we look at the wisdom Paul imparts to Timothy. Paul starts in verse 23:

 ²³ But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels. 

2 Timothy 2:23

He tells us that the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome. IN the first letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, He tells Timothy to be a “good servant of Christ” (1 Timothy 4:6). Paul describes himself as a servant of God (Titus 1:1). The Greek word Paul uses for servant is is doulos, literally meaning a bondservant or slave. Timothy was to view himself as a slave to the Lord, not quarreling in his work.

Instead of being quarrelsome, Paul gave Timothy four positive attributes to follow.

Be kind to everyone.

But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.

Luke 6:35

The Lord is kind and expects the same from His servants.

Paul teaches us that love is “patient and kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4) and believers are to be “kind to one another” (Ephesians 4:32). Paul also writes that kindness can be shown even by unbelievers (Acts 28:2), but is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23) that should be true of every servant of Christ.

Servants are also to be “able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9),

Servants must be “patiently enduring evil.” Did you know Paul writes this six times in his second letter to Timothy? (2 Timothy 2:10, 12; 3:11; 4:3, 5).

Pursuing godliness is not taking up to quarreling with one another, it is kindness, the ability to teach through the act of and by example, while being patient in suffering, affliction, and persecution.

Are these attributes we show consistently in our behavior, attitude, actions, and words each day or are we the type of people always look for a fight?

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If you are following along in the Journal, the back pages have a table of Heavenly Wisdom vs. Corrupted Wisdom. Today’s scripture is in the first block under the column Heavenly Wisdom. If you get stuck, you can visit this page and see my example.