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Flee Evil Desires

             Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.  And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (II Timothy 2:22-26)

I looked in a couple of commentaries, and “evil desires of youth” seems to refer to things like impulsiveness, pride, envy, anger, and a desire for recognition, all things that can be found in a person of any ae, but particularly in younger folks. Take a look at society in just about any age, and you’ll find the youth impatient for everything. It’s part of being young, the part in which the imagination of the child still hasn’t learned to cope with reality.

And one of the things those who are caught up in the evil desires of youth do is to argue in a way that descends into quarrels. Paul implies that there are wise and good arguments, because if all arguments were foolish and stupid, he wouldn’t need to qualify some arguments as foolish and stupid. Two plus two equals four is an argument that isn’t foolish or stupid. Claiming that two plus two doesn’t equal four involves a stupid or foolish argument. And “arguments” that are designed to show one’s superiority over another person, or the vast inferiority of that person, are foolish and stupid. If they don’t produce quarrels, they build walls out of hatred.

But here’s where Paul takes a change in direction. Instead of telling us never to speak our minds, never to disagree with anyone, never to take a stand, he tells us to gently instruct opponents. There is a picture that epitomizes gentleness. It is of a little boy squatting and looking up at a large draft horse. The horse could kill the boy with one blow of a hoof but the horse doesn’t because it’s gentle. It has no desire to hurt the boy. If we gently instruct someone, we give them information that helps them understand the truth and change their mind without harming them in the process. It is done in the hope that God will work in the person’s life. It is done in the hope of freeing the person from the lies the devil has told him/her. This is, to me, the difference between an argument and a quarrel. An argument is about the information. A quarrel is about the person in a negative light. 

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