2 Timothy 2: 24-26
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.
Paul teaches us to become the Lord's servant, and a servant needs to follow the Lord's command. In the entire New Testament, it's not difficult to discover the greatest mission given to us by the Lord is to preach the gospel. Many people living among us do not necessarily have material needs, but their hearts are not satisfied. Many young people's careers, marriages are at the crossroad and they are lost; many middle-aged people can't decide what path to follow with their burdens of life and pressure at work. These people are all around you, we are responsible to bring them the good news, and to preach them the gospel.
Paul mentioned the three requirements with respect to the attitude of preaching the gospel. The first is gentleness. Neither screaming nor self-righteousness is necessary when preaching the gospel; people are always willing to listen when you have a gentle heart. Although Paul has a strong personality, he is very gentle when preaching the gospel. He talked about in 1 Cor. 9 his attitude of preaching the gospel: To what kind of person, he became one of them. It meant not to join with the vicious, but to learn to empathize with others, and to sympathize with the needs of others. A gentle person often sees other people's needs, and uses the right words to comfort others.
The second is to have wisdom; when Paul talked about able to teach, it is to use every kind of wisdom to preach the gospel. Do not bombard people day and night such that they shy away from you. Lend books to people who love to read, invite music lovers to musical events, bring people who love to make friends to cell groups; use different methods to teach, instruct to lead people to the knowledge of the truth. Finally it is patience, not everyone would receive upon hearing the gospel, some people will even oppose to the gospel that we preach. So be patient, pray for them, because only God can open people's eyes, let them see the darkness of their sins, and seeing that in the bondage sin, there's the urgent need for Jesus Christ's salvation. So pray for them with no resentment until God fulfills his work for one another.
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