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Scripture ~ II Timothy 2.23-24 (NLT)
23 Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. 24 A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people.
Comments
While the instruction above is from St. Paul to his spiritual son Timothy, a young pastor, it applies to us who truly desire to be a "servant of the Lord."
If I am to be a servant of Christ, I cannot serve Christ apart from living in consciousness of being in God, and I cannot be a servant of others apart from Christ. My service, if I am a true, spiritual Christian, is to be in the lived acknowledgment of belonging first to Christ. I can belong to no other apart from belonging to that other in Christ. If I belong to Christ first, I discover, progressively, what it means to belong to everyone in Christ.
For me good is good for my being, being in and for Christ, for God is the Good. I must return again and again to belonging in and for the Beloved Friend, otherwise, I will sacrifice my being to a lesser good than the Good God Is.
Richard Baxter (b. 1615), an English clergyperson, in The Saint's Everlasting Rest, writes of need of the Christian servant to avoid useless arguments: "Avoid arguments about the trivial details of faith. You don't need a religion that is composed of opinions. People who dispute violently about the fine points of religion are usually the least acquainted with God. If your religion is all in your firmly held opinions, you will be loud and obnoxious. If your religion rests in the knowledge and love of God, you will communicate pleasantly and be an attractive representative."
This, then, is the summation of the matter of service for every true, spiritual Christian. We are to avoid the temptation to invest an over-importance in our opinions: they are, indeed, opinions, nothing more or nothing less. We are to be "acquainted with God," thus, we desire to offer God above all, not our theology, but our very selves in living oblation of self. To do this, however, means we will have a spirituality that is founded in a living "knowledge and love of God."
We are to resist engaging in petty, self-righteous argumentation. These persons, however apparently pious and religious, attach to ideas. Their defense of them shows they lack the knowledge and love of God that is to reign in the human heart by the adornment of the graces of Christ and in honor of the Word of God.
Do not think it unloving to disdain and resist close intimacy with such persons as are zealous in defending their version of religion. Think it unloving to waste your time and energy in such fruitless argumentation. Such will only lead you away from the gentle spirit and inner quiet that is the mark of the man or woman living in and serving Christ.
Cherish your attractiveness for Christ, and keep yourself unsullied by the grime of fussing and fighting about religion or church. God does not need your defense, Christ, rather, calls for your salty service to those who have real needs and long for you to be a servant of Grace to them. If where you are will not support that, you may need to consider another venue to serve Christ.
Suggested Reflection
Do you belong to Christ or a religious ideology?
How might religious argumentation be an avoidance of giving oneself to serving Christ?
What do you see as essentials of your belief system? What do you see as nonessentials, open to kind disagreement?
Do you feel your religious group is engaging in any useless, foolish argumentation? Explain.
Do you interpret your religious group to be engaging in useful disagreement and debate? Explain.
Do you have someone in your life who wants to argue about religious belief? How do you need to respond to that person?
What does it mean for you to have "knowledge and love of God"?
Do you have a difficult person in your life and whom you need to treat with patience and gentleness? How about praying for that person and for the kindness and patience to respond to him or her as a true, spiritual servant of Christ Jesus?
Brian is available to respond to requests pertaining to seeking a Spiritual Director, his speaking, doing classes, workshops, or retreats for churches or other spiritual groups. He will inform regarding how to receive his other writings or offer replies to comments or questions.
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*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, and their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, in Clearwater and Punta Gorda, Florida. He is a United Methodist pastor and vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in Georgia. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to experience a deeper relationship with Christ through contemplative prayer and living.
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