Devotionals by Dr. M. Craig Barnes
Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies. --
Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter to a young pastor named Timothy. Most of the letter consists of the wisdom Paul has learned over the years. Here he cautions Timothy to avoid "stupid and senseless controversies."
There aren't many other kinds of controversy. Eventually they all sound pretty stupid. That's because in a controversy we soon lose sight of the issue and begin arguing simply to save face. Have you ever heard someone say, "you must be right, what was I thinking?" Probably not. Most conflicts end only when someone is too hurt to continue. But just because you can hurt someone in an argument doesn't mean that you are right.
I think the real reason Paul considers controversies to be senseless is that they just take up too much time. Since Paul wrote this letter in jail staring at the end of his life, every minute must have been precious to him. Then again, Paul had always squeezed all the life out of a day that he could.
So the problem with argument is that it assumes we can waste today on a controversy because we always have tomorrow.
But we don't. Tomorrow belongs to God. If we really believed that today is all we have,
it would seem pretty stupid and senseless to waste a minute
hurting someone with an argument.
-- Craig Barnes