Avoid Godless Chatter!

 

THU Evening Prayer Reflection 021121 (2 Timothy 2:14-26)

“Remind them of this, and warn them before God* that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. Avoid profane chatter, for it will lead people into more and more impiety, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth by claiming that the resurrection has already taken place. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his’, and, ‘Let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness.’  In a large house there are utensils not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for special use, some for ordinary. All who cleanse themselves of the things I have mentioned* will become special utensils, dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work. Shun youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant* must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, and that they may escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

I have been toying with the word purposefulness. It makes me think of being determined in my journey towards God. Now that Lent is almost here, That’s the word I want to be thinking about: purposefulness. In her book the Interior Castle, Teresa of Avila wrote that self-knowledge is the one set of rooms in which we may tarry for as long as we like. I appreciate this counsel because with self-knowledge, we learn to keep our purpose clear, to keep our goals a straight target. Also, this self-knowledge is linked with a firm understanding that God loves you beyond measure, and it is by his grace that we are able to do what pleases him. One of the best goals of a Christian believer is to keep being converted every moment. St. Paul kept his purposefulness despite difficult times, he remained purposeful. He stood up with his inner strength, he stood by his values and taught us how to straight target our goals. I can sense that he was fighting with a problem in the community. A problem that regards our conversations, our chatter. He is offering a Christian way, a straight target that we should focus on.

Paul tells us that we should all have as our goal to turn away from sin and wickedness whatever it is. This letter to Timothy is warning about godless chatter. Paul tells young Timothy to flee youthful passions and to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with a pure heart. I think the message isn’t speaking only to young Timothy but it speaks to all of us. This message tells us to be purposeful in our pursuit of holiness. We know it is hard to practice this purposefulness especially when we fail time after time. Now at times we get angry at things or at people, we react in ways that we regret, that’s why it is important for us to learn to understand ourselves and expect at times dark moments of failure yet remaining purposeful. We need continuous conversion of heart, a continuous straightening of our paths. I would compare it to a continuous pointing to the target, eventually we get better and better.

We need courage to keep our purpose straight and clear. Courage is the confidence required for living with a view to the future. Father R. Guardini wrote that: “In spite of our precautions, the future is still largely unknown, even if it may be before us like chaos into which we must venture.” So, be confident when advancing into the unknown, because you have faith and trust that God is with you; ahead of you and behind you. Paul tells us that in our Christian journeys, we can be used as a special household item as the ones used by the owner. Which one are we now? I can think of few that we use respectably. Be useful for good works!

Perhaps when we are facing hard times, it becomes harder to hit the target straight, we shake and we are more and more apt to fall into what Paul is warning us about: profane chatter; wrangling words that only bring ruin; senseless controversies, quarrelsome… Lord help us!  May we learn the best way to stay the course, be confident, purposeful, and courageous as we pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace!

May the Lord Jesus grant you a determination to stay on the targeted straight path!

Amen