“Godless Chatter” Devotion by Pastor Fred Snider

“Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.” 2 Timothy 2:16

Paul is quite intolerant of nonsense in general. He doesn’t pull any punches when addressing issues we deal with in the church. Timothy the young pastor must have loved getting his letters and being able to share them with the flock because they dealt with the touchy stuff. Avoid godless chatter is a kind, but direct way of telling people to shut up about a lot of stuff. Godly people shouldn’t be “talking crap” as I shared so eloquently in a recent sermon. Easy to say, not so easy to do. The constant drip and flood of ungodliness is almost unavoidable. We are surrounded by non-stop drivel. This is why we must counter the negative flow with lots of truth, godliness, and biblical principle. Avoidance is an easy task when we want to do it. We are actually quite creative about it. We can avoid people, paying bills, going to church, volunteering, and responsibility like they are the plague. Gossip or juicy stories or worldly media garbage, now that is not so easy. The reason we should avoid it is clear. Like the Word says, we indulge in it. As a matter of fact, we tend to be self-indulging. When we cave into the temptation to listen to godless chatter, we are overcome by it. Just can’t resist it. After all inquiring minds want to know, right? Honestly, it is not about the temptation because we make little or no effort to avoid it. Eventually we have become so immersed in worldliness, you know, worldly talk, worldly opinions, worldly attitudes, and worldly ways that we lose touch with any sense of resistance.

The closing words of the noteworthy book, Animal Farm, says the following about the influence of the ways of this world. “I looked from man to pig and pig to man around the table and it was growing increasingly difficult to tell the difference.” We are both like all other humans and set apart. One of the major ways to be set apart is by avoiding godless chatter.

Enough said.
Pastor Fred

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