"The servant of the Lord must not quarrel,
but must be gentle toward all people, able
to teach, patient, in gentleness instructing
those in opposition. Perhaps God will grant
them repentance to know the truth, and
they may escape from the snare of the
devil, after being captured by him to do his
will" (2 Tim. 2:24-26).
I do a lot of commenting on internet
articles these days, and have found that
what Paul says in this passage of Scripture
is just as relevant today as it was 2,000
years ago.


The "servant of the Lord" presupposes the
fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Gal.
5:22-23). Without this, the remainder is
difficult to do.
Striving or quarreling is a good way to end
any meaningful exchange between people.
If someone responds in a negative way to
one of my comments on the internet, and I
care to respond to it, I don't respond with
the same tone that they used toward me.
Being "gentle unto all" is the way to not
escalate the disagreement into an
exchange of insults; instead, you go into
the mode of "able to teach, patient, in
gentleness instructing those in
opposition" (2 Tim. 2:24).

If the person responds, you will usually notice that their tone is not as confrontational.
I always keep in mind that the purpose for
the exchange is to teach. I also assume
that there are others that are reading the
exchange, and that my comments are also
for the wider audience. If you have
anything meaningful to say, you want to
keep the exchange going until you have
that's everything that you intended. Many
times the response that you get can move
the conversation in a direction that you
didn't anticipate at the beginning. This can
also be useful.


An important point to remember is that we
don't control the outcome of the
conversation. Once it ends, God does the
rest. God is the one who "will grant them
repentance to know the truth, and they may
escape from the snare of the devil, after
being captured by him to do his will" (2
Tim. 2:25b-26). When we remember this,
it takes the pressure off of us. There is no
need to feel guilty or angry if the other
person does not appear to agree with us.
God may have to work on them as only He
knows how. The anonymity of the internet
prevents us from knowing the full impact
of our words most of the time. This comes
with the turf. Our job is to put out the
Word. God disposes of it as He wishes.


"For as the rain comes down, and the snow
from heaven, and do not return there but
water the earth and make it bring forth and
bud that it may give seed to the sower and
bread to the eater, so shall My word be
that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not
return to Me void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper in
the thing for which I sent it. For you shall
go out with joy, and be led out with peace;
the mountains and the hills shall break
forth into singing before you, and all the
trees of the field shall clap their hands" (Is.
55:10-12). We are to "go out with joy, and
be led forth with peace." We can't do this
if we assume all of the burden for the
outcome.

Nature rejoices when we spread the word
because "the creation itself also will be set
free from its slavery to corruption into the
glorious freedom of the children of

We know that the whole creation groans
and travails in pain together until
now" (Rom. 8:21-22).

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