TITUS 2: 7-8
IT’S ALMOST SUNDAY DEVOTIONS – ROOTED IN TRUTH
In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
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It has been a pleasure of mine to have good friends in my life. Some have made an impact and have moved on for varied reasons but then there are some that have stuck around in my life. I currently have three people in my life that I consider my best friend. You see I am allowed three best friends. I have a gold, silver, and a bronze best friend. And yes, this does exist. In my world anyway.
One of these best friends is Matt McMahon. Current men’s basketball head coach at LSU. I met Matt at Appalachian State University several years ago and we have just kept up since. He is one of those friends that you do not see very often but when you do see each other or talk it is like you have been together forever. You just pick up where you left off. My friend Matt has a quote he makes to his players a lot that I absolutely love. And it says this. “Actions and words have to match.” Now these words not only fit in the sports world but also in the life of we as Christians.
Is a Public Defender Good Enough?
I personally love the book of Titus. It has one of my top three verses in it. Titus 1:2 “God cannot lie.” It is also cool to say you read an entire book in the Bible in just ten minutes. The apostle Paul wrote this letter to one of his preacher boys, Titus. And in it, much like the book of Timothy, Paul is giving instructions and encouragements to Titus on how to help the church on the Island of Crete. Chapter 2 outlines it as follows. Paul is explaining to Titus what and how the church should teach. Now knowing the background of it all we can look at our above verse. Notice the first words, “In all things.” Here is what that means.
Above everything else. So here is Paul writing and remember that it was God that really inspired these writings. God said Above everything else… Think about that. What is getting ready to be said is important here. And then here is the breakdown of these two verses. Paul says and more importantly God says teach the church that actions and words have to match. And then when you teach the church this make sure the church teaches others this.
We now live in an era where, through Jesus, God wants to reveal and manifest himself to the world. In this era, God’s manifested presence is not meant to be rare or uncommon. It’s meant to be poured out everywhere. It’s meant to be a regular occurrence for believers to experience His presence manifested among us.
All these things uphold our freedom in Christ and allow for us to experience God’s manifested presence. Until Christ returns let’s keep walking in these things and in our assignment to help as many as we can to find and experience the freedom we have in Christ.
In the Old Testament God revealed and manifested himself at different times, but generally it was limited to a few and limited to one nation – Israel. In the New Testament we see that through Christ, God has chosen to manifest and pour out His Spirit on all people, from every nation whether young or old.
If there has ever been anything that we could learn from the Bible for our modern time such as now this would be it. Never have we had an issue in our churches of today like this where people just do not do what they say. Actions and words just do not align anymore. Talk is cheap until it is put into play or ACTION matches these words. What is stopping us from bringing in more people to our churches, what keeps real revival at bay, and what stops people from getting out of the pews and getting to work? It is because no one does what they say anymore. It is so much easier to talk about it than to do it. But do we believe this is what God wants or would have us to be like? The answer is simple. Absolutely not. These two verses tell us different. What will your excuse be when standing before an almighty God someday and He ask you why your actions and words did not match. Friend, can I remind you that you will stand before God someday.
And lastly, can I ask you this? Can your neighbors, friends, work relations, or even your family say that you are different? Do other people come to you for help? Or do they avoid you because they know your actions do not match your words? Selah. Think about that.
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