1574) It’s interesting to hear the bickering my students have. What’s even more interesting is what they’re about. It’s usually because someone “stole” something of theirs or someone “said” something about them. We can find almost all of these types of disagreements in these two sources, but I also think it’s interesting that we adults do much the same thing.

How many of us get bent out of shape because of something someone else says? If we don’t see eye to eye with someone, is it usually something that involves something extremely important? I’m guessing your answer is the same as mine. No.

Disagreements are part of life. It’s important to acknowledge that everyone is different and has multiple points of view, but we should steer clear of certain arguments. Paul addresses this in 2 Timothy 2:23.

In this verse, we are told to not have anything to do with and refuse to participate in foolish and stupid arguments. I think we’ve got a pretty good grasp of what foolish and stupid mean but let’s take a closer look at what the word refuse is here in the Greek.

The word refuse, paraiteomai, means to shun or reject something. Shunning has the idea of turning your back on it and never welcoming it back. In other words, we need to actively choose not to take part or be dragged into arguments that are petty and ridiculous. I don’t find this refusal hard once I am aware of it but in the moment, it’s hard to recognize such disputes.

Maybe we should spend more time listening to what’s really being said in an argument before we decide to jump in.