Let’s suffice it to say today that I failed at coffee making 098. And that’s all I am going to say about that! The SECOND pot is actually going to make it!
Now that being said, let’s move on!
11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
He is writing to Titus – called him once before his “partner and fellowhelper” in the Corinthian Letters. Dealing with people can be a difficult task. When the church is mixed with religious people who take the greatest freedom in the world of “grace” and then stop and teach people that you have to keep the law as well in order to be right with God and you add a great dose of ignorant Christians who refuse to learn and walk with God, you have a tough assignment in that local church. Paul was famous for teaching young ministers and helping them get their spiritual and theological legs under them. He was encouraging Titus to teach those who were Christians to remember to walk right.
The Christian life is kind of like milking cows – it’s unbelievably daily. The basics are just that – basic. You cannot get away from them. Watching out for ungodly things, being self disciplined in your moral activities, your Bible Study and prayer, fellowshipping with Believers…things that we must be self-disciplined in. We do not have a choice. Let me regress a moment – yes, we do have a choice. Because of Grace and because God made us people with free wills, we can chose to follow Jesus or we can chose to follow our own ways.
I was interested this morning in Paul’s instruction to Titus! That is simple, but profound. Paul had to remind Titus and told Titus to remind the Christian family there. Some one was to take the responsibility to help keep each other on the narrow path. We cannot do this Christian thing alone. It is not meant to be done alone. We need each other. I am not going to take a moment to pile drive Governor Sanford for his impropriety in office, but I will visit it enough to say that it would have been helpful to our dear friend if he had a Titus up close to his heart who could have been real enough with him to guide him to walk right before God and men. When we get “alone” and “away” from others we live dangerous lives and open ourselves up to a major impact by the enemy.
I was watching parents at the Tailgate Party the other evening at the church. The little kids would walk away from the parents but not for long. A mom was always watching and a dad had an eye on their child. It was important to keep an eye on your children. The older youth got farther away that the little kids but the parents still knew where they were. However, if you took your eyes off of them long enough you gave opportunity for them to get in trouble. God is still watching his children. He is expecting his children to watch His children and to walk with each other encouraging each other to walk lives worthy of our name.
I am glad that I have friends. I have people around me that care! Priceless!
