“1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,2 to slander no one, to avoid fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people.”

“8 This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.”
Titus 3:1-2, 8

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Here in Titus 3 we find two separate commands, two imperatives that Paul is passing along to this young preacher. Titus may be living on an island in the Mediterranean now, but that doesn’t mean that life is easy. Island cultures develop with less outside influence, less cultural peer-pressure if you will, and so the people of Crete are going to be pretty set in their ways as Titus tries to disciple them, drawing their hearts toward Christ and away from the way things used to be. Paul passes along commands to be submissive, obedient, ready to serve, to live lives that don’t tear others down or beat others down and to instead live in a way that conveys respect, kindness and a gentle heart.

Had Titus barged into their towns, their culture and started demanding things, they would have instantly cut him off from consideration. But coming in with a humble, gentle spirit, meeting them where they are, and always speaking the truth with a servant’s heart, their perception and reception of him would be much different. Knowing this, Paul reminds the Cretans through Titus to do the same. They may your friends, neighbors and relatives, but that doesn’t give you license to be rude and uncaring toward them. Instead, with the heart that you received Christ and were baptized into Him, you GoLove others. And so He shares this imperative in verse 8: “8 This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.”

It’s good and profitable for everyone when we walk as Jesus walked, when we live in humility and grace. When you and I approach people with servant’s hearts and the truth on our lips, we bring something, not of our own making, that captures the hearts and minds of those who are witness to it. The truth lived out and presented in love is a captivating thing. Christians who put their faith in to practice are a contagious community, built on faith, acted out in love, grace and joy. For those around us in the world who struggle, who doubt, who hurt, who are confused, this is the very light of life. What we have is what they long for, and so they are drawn out of the darkness by the hand of God at work in us through HIs Holy Spirit.

Paul, rightly, issues warnings here, too.

“3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.”
“9 But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning, 11 knowing that such a person is perverted and sins, being self-condemned.” Titus 3:3, 9-11

‘We were once…’ That means we are no longer that way anymore.
‘But avoid…’ This is a reminder that our character matters, and that there are characteristics that distract, divide and draw hearts away from God, and we are to have nothing to do with them in our own lives. He also reminds us that there comes a point when we must walk away from certain people, hard as it is to do, and leave them to their sin for a time.

But when it comes to our character, we are to be unswerving in loyalty, unbending with the truth and undeniably His. We must turn aside to help others, bend our backs in service and speak His Name to everyone we are given an opportunity to serve. This is how we GoLove in HIs Name.