“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness — in the hope of eternal life …” (Titus 1:1,2a)
Read Titus 1:1–16.
How do we know God’s will and purpose for our lives? God leads us in many different ways, through the circumstances of our daily lives, through the things we hear, see and read and through the message in the pages of God’s revealed truth to us in the Bible. But many things also impact us negatively, encouraging us to concentrate on ourselves and what we can get out of life, sometimes even at the expense of others.
The Apostle Paul had been working with Titus to share the good news in Crete. When he departed, he left Titus behind to complete the work he had been doing. The believers in Crete were being impacted negatively by the views expressed by other people on Crete, often with ulterior motives. Paul’s instructions to Titus in his letter aimed to provide a solid foundation for the believers.
The foundation for how we live our lives is Jesus. He lived a life of perfect obedience to His Father. It helps us to regularly go over His life’s story in the gospels to see how He made clear His Father’s purpose in what He said and did. Jesus also did this amazing swap with us, where He takes on Himself the consequences of all our failures to live as He did and allocates the perfection of His own life to us. So, in God’s eyes, we are legally perfect and sinless. All this was done through Jesus’ deep love for us. It is only as we are overwhelmed by the extent of this love that we can surrender our whole lives to God’s will and purpose.
Paul’s letter to Titus then gives lots of practical advice on living a life surrendered to God’s will and purpose for us, living as His children and enjoying the guidance and support provided by the heavenly family we are now part of.
Prayer
Father, through all of the noise and chaos that is generated in this world, I trust in the promises You made to Your children and to the free gift of salvation through Your Son, Jesus. Let that always be so!
Stay encouraged!
Pastor Mike
