Vain Jangling
The English language has done some changing in the 400-plus years since the King James Version was made available. Within its pages, you’ll find phrases like “straitened in your own bowels” (2 Corinthians 6:12), “superfluity of naughtiness” (James 1:21), “bloody flux” (Acts 28:8), “filthy lucre” (1Timothy 1:7), and “the thick bosses of his bucklers” (Job 15:26).
There is a beauty and picturesqueness to the Elizabethan English, though. One example of this is in 1 Timothy 1:6, which warns against “vain jangling.” To me, that’s a vivid way of translating a compound Greek word translated elsewhere as “fruitless discussions” (NASB), “idle talk” (NKJV), “vain discussion” (ESV), “meaningless talk” (NIV), and “empty talk” (MEV). Have you ever heard anyone jangling keys or coins in their pockets? It’s usually a nervous tic and mindless habit, but it can be loud and annoying.
The cause of this "vain jangling" is revealed in verse 7, that “they want to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.”
We need to be cautious lest we become religious noisemakers, banging and clanging with reckless abandon. Our words hold the power of spiritual life or death within them (Proverbs 18:21). Thus, great restraint, copious forethought, and thoughtful execution ought to control our speech, wherever it is “heard.”
Otherwise, we may simply be declaring our thoughtless ignorance, both uninvited and unwelcome, and come off sounding like three dollars of pennies churning in the pocket of a champion fidgeter.
"A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered" (Proverbs 17:27).
I Murdered My Grandmother This Morning
A humorous, though likely fabricated, story is told of President Theodore Roosevelt. It recounts how he tired of the endless, banal greetings and conversations at state events. Supposedly, one evening at a state ball, the President stood in a receiving line greeting one guest after another. “All of them said the same thing,” recounts author Chuck Swindloll, “smiled the same tired smile, repeating the right greetings by rote, talking with their mouths, not their heads or their hearts.”
Tired of shaking hands and smiling this big smile and responding with the usual inanities used at such occasions, Roosevelt did something absolutely outrageous. Convinced that no one was listening anyway, he began to greet the rest of his guests by saying with a smile, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” Everyone smiled vacuously and said things like: “Wonderful!” “Lovely!” “Keep up the good work” One diplomat was listening, however. He leaned over and whispered in Roosevelt’s ear, “I’m sure she had it coming to her!”
Swindoll goes on to describe how “empty Christian talk … filled with clichés and bromides … and nonsensical small talk” work to “drive him up a wall.”
[Dr. Charles R. Swindoll has served as pastor of some of our nation’s most prominent churches, chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary, and Bible teacher on the internationally syndicated radio program Insight for Living. He has written more than thirty best-selling books, including STRENGTHENING YOUR GRIP, LAUGH AGAIN, THE GRACE AWAKENING, and the million-selling GREAT LIVES FROM GOD'S WORD series.]
We’ve all engaged in it—empty chatter. Though not every gathering of the brethren need be filled from dawn until dusk with deep spiritual debate or discourses on systematic theology, shouldn't some (nay, most) of our time be focused on discussing the deeper things of the Christian life and faith? Shouldn’t we be spending our time in an ongoing exchange of mutual edification, spiritual encouragement, and accountability? All within the context of our routine, daily lives, of course.
Let’s not waste time “talking with our mouths” instead of our “heads and hearts.”
“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25).
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).
Who Controls The Thermostat?
Lisa Rein of the Washington Post reports on the age-old question of who controls the office thermostat:
If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of women freezing in federal offices across the country (and secretly running forbidden space heaters under your desk to stay warm), here are the two guys in Washington who wish they could help you stop shivering. They’re the Mercury Men for the federal government, a job … that carries a pretty awesome responsibility.
Kevin Kampschroer and Steve Sakach have their hands on the nation’s thermostat, responsible for keeping 2.1 million employees — nearly half of them women — in 9,000 federal buildings cool …
The Mercury Men have listened to the national conversation about freezing women and overheated men from their perch in the dazzling, sustainable offices of the General Services Administration’s downtown Washington headquarters ...
[Nevertheless] …"just 60 percent of federal employees GSA has surveyed in recent years say they’re satisfied with the temperature at work, a frustrating number given the government’s $5 billion annual utility bill …
We took the temperature of federal workers’ thermal comfort ourselves this week with an unscientific survey. The results? We got an earful. Men are sweaty, even with summer casual dress codes that allow them to shed ties and jackets. Women are cold. Some of them stash space heaters under their desks. They complain to their building managers. They’re told some version of, 'That’s the best we can do.'
Who knew that the thermostats of all those federal buildings were controlled by just two men? Well, the 1 million women working in those building probably suspected it!
You may not have the power or authority to run the thermostat in your office, but that doesn’t mean you can’t exert an influence of a higher and nobler kind.
The Bible tells us that the way we comport ourselves can exert tremendous influence on those with whom we interact. Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
According to this verse, rather than having our spiritual climate controlled by somebody else, we can use the power of a gracious response to override and reset the spiritual temperature of any given circumstance.
Don’t allow the actions of others to dictate your spiritual temperature!
“A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel: (Proverbs 15:18).