Titus. Salvation
Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways.
Reclothe us in our rightful minds,
In purer lives thy service find
In deeper reverence praise,
In deeper reverence praise.
Breathe through the heats of our desires
Thy coolness and thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small voice of calm,
O still small voice of calm.
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) (Book of a Thousand Prayers)
Read:
Titus 2:1-14. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. 2Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
3Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
6Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
9Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive.
11For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 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 appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, 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.
(Titus 2:1-14 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
So why have Titus readings at Christmas? Our passage talks about salvation and a Saviour. The letter to Titus makes it pretty blunt what salvation is and what we are being saved from. Paul is not writing to a church of academics and philosophers, but straightforward people who need you to speak in straightforward language. Paul’s blunt honest guidance would have been readily understood and immensely practical from their point of view.
I once attended another Christian community where the youth pastor got up and told them in no uncertain language that they had to stop doing drugs and keep away from violence and crime. No one was in any doubt about what salvation was when he was finished. But his blunt honesty enabled them to choose.
I wonder if people have clarity about salvation when we speak? Are you clear?
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