Tara-Leigh Cobble

He knows which hearts belong to him, and he'll sort it all out in the end.

Maybe Timothy is inclined toward debate and Paul feels the need to restrain him a little bit.

There's a certain kind of zeal that comes with youth and since Timothy is still young, Paul reminds him how to handle these scenarios with wisdom.

He says, flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies.

You know that they breed quarrels.

I love that Paul doesn't just tell him what to run from, but what to run after.

Flee your fleshly impulses, pursue the things of the Spirit.

Those things are at opposite ends of the spectrum, so you can't run in both directions at once.

If you're going to serve God, you can't always be seeking out an argument.

You have to spend your words teaching people and doing it with patience.

And if you do have to correct someone, be gentle about it, he says.

Don't put any speed bumps in the way for people.

Our hope isn't that we'll make a great point or win the argument.

Our hope is that God will grant them repentance and free them from Satan's grip.

In chapter three, he lists the kind of people he wants Timothy to avoid.

When I read lists like these, I think it's always a humbling exercise not to think about who I need to avoid, but to see how many places I can identify myself on the list.

Here it is.

Lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit,

Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.