Empty Voice

Read

1 Timothy 6:20–21 (NKJV) O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

What it is speaking to me

The greek word for "idle babblings" is two words slammed together: empty and voice. It only appears twice in the whole Bible, once here and once more in Paul's other letter to Timothy. He may have even made it up to make his point stand out to Timothy even more.

Partner that with the word profane which pairs closely to the idea of language or talk that has nothing to do with God. Its "unhallowed" as one commentator put it. So its unhallowed empty talk. Its talk that is not even necessarily false, just empty. False talk is at least arguably arguable. It might be something worth addressing.

But empty talk is almost more like a weird modern art piece in a living room. It just takes space up in the room, looking impressive, but providing no function. It sounds weighty, but weighs nothing. I think a lot of religion can function like that. Nice to look at, but nothing you can live in.

Maybe you have been in a religious conversation that fits that bill. Maybe even a bible study, small group, or class. It is not that everything that was said bad or wrong, but it was...nothing. No one loved better, no one served, no sin confessed, no neighbor helped. It sounded sophisticated but produced no fruit anybody could eat.

That is "empty voice". And not to contradict myself, but empty voice is not really empty at all because in its repeating Paul says it causes believers to stray from the real faith.

So empty, and dangerous. No wonder we should avoid it.

What is it saying to you?

Think about the last conversation you had about God with someone: Did anything real get shared or did it just get discussed?

Have you ever talked a lot about a christian practice, but never done it?

What are we going to do about it?

Today, have one conversation about Jesus that goes somewhere. Put something in the other person that has real weight.