Passage Read: Titus 3 - Philemon 1
Meditation Verses: Titus 3:1-3
Thought
The reason Paul gives for believers to submit to every authority, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle and to be considerate toward all men is because we also were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and full of all kinds of hatred and envy. All the people around us, over us, beside us, under us, all the people who annoy and frustrate us and do foolish things--we used to be just like them, but we are no more. So we should be able to be submissive and obedient to authorities who don't know what is good and right, because we used to be the same. We can be gracious to people who are foolish and bitter, because we know what it's like to be just like that. We can be gracious to anyone, because we used to be just like them, but are no longer, thanks to God's grace to us in Jesus Christ and through His Spirit. We have been changed, and we know that only by faith in Jesus will the Spirit transform another person's nature. We know what it's like to be helplessly ensnared by foolishness and disobedience, to be deceived and bitter, and to be helpless to do anything about it. We know how impossible it is to get free on our own, so we can and should be peaceable and considerate and respectful toward all who remain trapped by those old things. And we should recognize that it's not our treatment of them, good or evil, that can help them and change them, but it is the Gospel alone and the Spirit working through it that can set a person free from all their sinful ways.
Application
Instead of getting angry at unbelievers for acting in foolish and destructive ways, I should have compassion on them. They don't know any better, and if they did, they couldn't do anything about it! They're helpless without the Gospel and the transformation that only God can work. For those that do know better, though, for those who claim to believe but still act in foolishness and rebellion and hostility and all the other old ways, they need to be soundly rebuked. I need to be rebuked and to rebuke myself when I walk in them! We who believe in Jesus have been changed and must walk no longer in those old ways--unless we are not truly saved! Submission, obedience, respect, kindness, compassion, goodness: These should be the qualities I live by now. I need to walk in the freedom Christ brought me and be gracious and respectful to those around me, especially those who don't know any better and can't do any different--because I used to be just like them! And I should offer them the only way out, the only way to peace with God and men: the Gospel. How embarrassing to speak of that if I have not found that same peace and am not characterized by it!