November 3, 2024

Passage Read: Titus 3 - Philemon 1
Meditation Verses: Titus 3:1-3

Thought

The reason Paul gives for his command to be obedient to authorities and kind and considerate to all people is because we also once walked in the sinful lusts of the flesh and the bitterness and malice that comes from it. We once were foolish and disobedient, enslaved to evil desires, spending our days in hatred of everyone. We know what that's like; we understand why others treat us and everyone else badly. Having been set free from all that, we now know what is good and kind and honorable, and we no longer need to repay others in kind for the way they treat us. We have received the love of God and now can treat everyone with grace and mercy and kindness, understanding why they don't treat us the same way, understanding why they are unkind to us and not holding that against them.

Application

We know what it is to be forgiven for our evil behavior; we can now extend the same grace to those who have not yet been set free. We know what it means to be loved when we were entirely unlovely; we can now extend love to others who remain in their unloveliness. If we know what it means to be forgiven for our past wickedness, then we should be able to forgive and treat with honor and grace those who remain prisoners of their wickedness. I hate their evil deeds, but that doesn't mean I can treat them with disrespect and dishonor and bitterness and hatred. I should be able to have mercy on them, according to the degree that I understand that I too was once like them.