Titus | Pedestrian God

Titus: We too were once

Sep 04 2015

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us— not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.He poured out this Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,so that having been justified by His grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:3-7

It’s easy to forget who we were without Christ. We peer out our window at “those lost people,” glad that we’ve got it all together. But Paul reminds Timothy before closing his letter that “we too” were like them.

Foolish
Disobedient
Deceived
Enslaved by passions and pleasures
Living in malice and envy
Hateful, detesting one another

But God. He saved us – not because of how great we are, but through His mercy. The Holy Spirit washed us clean by the grace of Jesus so that we “may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.”

And yet, the very next verse, Paul reminds us to “devote [ourselves] to good works.” This is a reminder that our good works cannot and do not save us. However, they are the fruit that the world sees. They are evidence of the change inside us. With these works, we do not proclaim how great we are but how amazing our God is.

This Labor Day weekend, let’s take time to reflect on who we are without God’s mercy and thank Him that we don’t have to live that way any more.

Titus: Rules for us all

Aug 07 2015

After a discussion on how elders (Titus 1:5-14), older men (Titus 2:2), older women (Titus 2:3-5), young men (Titus 2:6), and slaves (Titus 2:9-10) should act, Paul sums up the attributes that “all people” should exhibit in their lives.

For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people,instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession, eager to do good works.
-Titus 2:11-14

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Titus: God’s Timing

Jul 21 2015

Okay, so we spent three full blogs on the first verse of Titus. We’ll be moving a tad faster from here. At a minimum, we’ll finish the greeting of Paul’s letter in today’s blog!

In His own time He has revealed His message in the proclamation that I was entrusted with by the command of God our Savior: To Titus, my true son in our common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus 1:2-4

If I could just repeat the words “in His own time” over and over in different situations I would be a more mature Christian. The problem is – I want God to work in MY own time. Well, not just God. Pretty much everyone should work on my time table – my husband, friends, family, boss, cashiers…

Titus: God Cannot Lie

Jul 10 2015

Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to build up the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
Titus 1:1-2

In my Bible, this truth is packed in three little words and squished in the middle of a long sentence. It’s easy to miss. And in fact, I did miss it, several times while reading this verse. Even more than just skimming over it, the words can be removed from the text altogether and it’s still a sentence. So why did Paul include it? Why did he feel the need to write that God cannot lie?

First, it doesn’t say that God does not lie. This would imply that it is possible for Him to slip up on occasion. It’s hard for us to wrap our tiny flesh-contained brains around the idea that God cannot lie. Because all of us are capable of lying. In fact, sometimes when we don’t even mean to we do. Just the other day I was telling a story from my week when I suddenly realized that it had actually happened the week before. Did that make me a huge liar? No. It showed the inadequacy of my memory – and the fact that I am prone to sinning without planning to sin.

Titus: Reasons for Writing

Jun 15 2015

In my previous blog, we looked at how Paul introduced himself in his letter. Today, let’s briefly look at two reasons why Paul wrote the letter.

Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to build up the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness…
Titus 1:1

Reason Number One: To build up the faith of God’s elect

Reason Number Two: To build up their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness

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