Sunday, January 18

titus

yesterday we finished up 2 kings, and with a beth moore study coming in the mail we had to pick something shorter that wouldn't take more than a few days to read in it's entirety. after a brief flip through, we decided on titus.

i haven't read the new testament in a while. titus contains a description of what an elder should be. whenever i read things like this i always compare it to my dad, because he was an elder for such a long time. i don't remember reading this passage before and paying attention, but i think it describes my dad completely.

vs. 6-9 - "and elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless - not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. he must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it."

this describes my dad perfectly to me. especially the last part. if nothing else, he holds firmly to the message as it has been taught, in order to encourage others and refute those who oppose it by his sound doctrine. all i know him as is stable, firm, and steadfast in his beliefs and his love of God.


also in vs. 15-16 - "to the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. in fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. they claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. they are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good."

this passage kind of confused me. "to the pure, all things are pure." what does this mean exactly? from looking at the rest of the verse i am wondering if it means that the motives of the pure are always pure, but the motives of those who do not believe are never pure, because their minds are corrupted. they are oxymoronical in their lifestyle (between their words and their actions) and therefor they are unfit for doing anything good. i don't know...thoughts?

2 comments:

stace-face said...

Hmm... so i was looking thru chapter 1 of titus to see what the chapter's context was... I think what he means (i could so be wrong) by "to the pure, all things are pure," is that those who profess to know Christ as their Savior, they are pure because Christ dwells within them. however, for those that don't know Christ, they are sinful and do not have the righteousness of God. But when God looks down at us, as believers, to Him we are pure, because He sees the reflection of His Son... ha, just a thought :)

Andysbethy said...

I love that you have someone to hold up as an example of an elder, and I especially love that he is your DAD!
Don't take this the wrong way, but it makes me really happy when I hear people "your age" speaking respectfully about their parents. So often even Christian young adults think that their parents are less than desirable. Thanks for being mature in applying scripture, rather than just memorizing it!
No wonder my sister loves you so much-
On a different note, I'm leaning toward the "motives" idea behind all things being pure. Because obviously, no one is actually pure at all times. However, I know that I fail even in my motivation to be pure sometimes... So the reflection of Jesus mentioned above certainly makes sense.
Thanks for making me think deep thoughts~