For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. Titus 2:11-14
Titus was one of Paul’s protégés who
accompanied the apostle on his missionary trips, helping to start churches. As with others, Paul eventually installed Titus
to be the pastor in Crete, a tough place for any pastor, and especially
difficult for a timid man. In that
moment of history Crete had a reputation paralleling Dodge City in the old west
and 1930’s Chicago. You could not find a
rougher place, or one more filled with selfish ambition and ruthlessness. It was no place to kick back and enjoy the
tea parties. The Cretan culture was more
like one of those video games that keeps you on your toes, because if you weren’t
more violent than the guy next to you, you were toast on a platter. Even today being called a Cretan is a
slur. Paul’s epistle to Titus gives evidence
that pastors in a place like Crete also need a pastor to encourage and remind
them why they’re there in the first place.
Paul’s preaching of such to his young
pastor (as he also did with Timothy[1]), had the purpose and plan for the church neatly tied-up in four
sentences; because of God’s grace and gift, we are to marry our devotion
to doing for the glory of God.
And, for pastors, teaching and modeling
this is the job description.
The short sermon in this is: if you’re going to claim the grace of God,
you need to be ready to do the works of God as the only true measure of living
in the hope of the coming day of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
An even shorter slogan would be:
If you’re gonna name it and claim it, you need to live it!
For You Today
How is this working for you?
Are your good deeds (looking out for
the needs of others) firmly married to your devotional love for Jesus?
Are you truly living like our prayers
suggest, in the name of Jesus?
Title image: Pixabay.com W Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For another posts on Titus 2 see: Age Spots and
Navigating
the Christian Calling
[1] See 1 & 2 Timothy, Paul’s pastoral letters to a
young, inexperienced, and not quite functional pastor.
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