1 Timothy (second)

I was described last night as a cream puff. This is a new revelation. Yeah, I'm slow too. The ladies at Alpha were encouraging me to be more forceful about getting the couples at the marriage class to listen to the tapes and not to whisper while the tape is going.
I have never thought of myself as a push over. I have some idea of why this has occurred. I have trouble being firm without getting angry. So I just keep quiet and stay frustrated inside. Sometimes not so much inside.
I do not like to be the one in authority because then I have to deal with peoples' negative reactions. Even if one leads, corrects, call people to obedience in the nicest way possible some people will still react angrily. I tend to get down with them and get angry right back. Then I have destroyed my authority.
And at the jail, as you might imagine, you have a lot of people who react this way to authority, without thinking first. It is how they were raised.
In situations like this in the past I have reacted right back. This muddies up the whole situation. And I do not think fast in stressful situations. I tend to panic. I start to doubt myself.
Anyway my tendency to avoid such situations makes me look like a cream puff - a push over.
In contrast, Paul in 1 Timothy does not give himself this luxury. He takes his role as evangelist and disciple maker very seriously. He must correct those who are disobedient, and who are teaching false doctrine, for the sake of the rest of the church. He will expel Hymanaeus and Alexander who persist in teaching false doctrine.
Paul knows he is right, for he has his word from God. He insists on proper doctrine and behavior in the churches. He has so many new converts. It is so easy for them to be led astray. Paul knows how important it is to teach, model, and admonish so that the new Christians will learn to be mature disciples.