July 18, 2023

Titus 1:10-16 (HCSB)
10 For there are also many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from Judaism. 11 It is necessary to silence them; they overthrow whole households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly. 12 One of their very own prophets said,  Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.13 This testimony is true. So, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith 14 and may not pay attention to Jewish myths and the commands of men who reject the truth. 15 To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works.They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified for any good work.

Barry Cobb
We live in a fallen world. All it takes is watching the first few minutes of the nightly newscast on any given day to see that. The city of Crete in Titus’s time there was no different. Paul calls out the many shortfalls of its citizens, many of which we can recognize in our society today. In verse 16, Paul mentions those who “profess to know God, but deny Him by their works”. This is something we as Christians should be on guard for daily. While we in our human nature are still prone to sin, the unbelievers in our society are looking for any opportunity to discredit our witness. We’re called to live “in the world, but not of the world”. The question for us today is the same as Titus in his day: how do we glorify God to the world around us, not just on Sunday mornings, but every day of the week?