“And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (2 Timothy 2:26)

We are in a great battle for the minds of young people today. The battlefield may be the classroom, or the home, or the church, or the family television, or any place else where teaching—good or bad—takes place.

It is significant that one of the greatest verses on teaching and one of the greatest on soldiering occur together. “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:2–3). Thus, it seems clear that a faithful teacher is a good soldier in the battle of Jesus Christ against the devil for the minds of those we are trying to teach.

The battle is not to be fought with bullets, however, or even with ballots, but with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Furthermore, our battlefield strategy is not to strike down our enemy with a sharpened tongue or to bludgeon him with a superior intellect. “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Colossians 4:6). Our text for the day gives us reason to continue, for it promises that those whose minds have been ensnared by the devil may yet be recovered. The words just preceding this verse describe our tactics: “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:24–25). Not even Satan can stand before the mighty sword of the Spirit, wielded by an apt soldier-teacher. HMM