SCRIPTURE: Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but in works
they deny Him being abominable,
disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
OBSERVATION: In Paul’s
letter to Titus, a faithful leader he left on the island of Crete in which
sound doctrine and integrity were being challenged and perverted, he is
exhorting Titus to properly seek out godly leaders to do the work of the ministry; and at the same time telling him to hold
fast to the things Paul had taught him that he might be able to exhort and
convict those in the wrong. Apparently
the Jews were inter-mixing the knowledge of popular fables and bywords that
were turning people from the faith as well as leading for their own selfish gain.
Their conduct and behavior not only caused others to sin, but it
immediately disqualified them for the leadership they assumed in the lives of
others. In their state of willful
disobedience they were unable to walk in the good works God had set before
them. Because of their lack of adherence
to neccesary character of a follower of Christ, they had judged themselves
unfit to lead.
APPLICATION: Once
again, character is crucial. The truth
that motivates our righteous behavior is key.
Basically the word is telling us that if our character isn’t aligned
with the word of God and being obedient to Christ, we’re not qualified to lead
or even do the work of the kingdom. It’s
a matter of the heart and it always has been with the Lord. Why do we do what we do? Just this morning I had cleaned up the house
while my wife was asleep that I might bless her when she woke up. Well she did and much to my disappointment I
didn’t receive one word of recognition.
HOLY SPIRIT CHECK: Was my
motivation to bless my wife and honor God by honoring others over myself, or
was my motive to be noticed and verbally esteemed by my wife. So subtle, but because my heart was not in
alignment with the heart of God in the situation, I disqualified myself from
the blessing, from the reward, from real joy.
I learned a lesson this morning...
If we’re to be men and women of character according to God’s
standard, we have to be in the word! It
has to saturate our thinking. God’s word
is living and active, meaning it gets into the soul and has a transforming
effect on our hearts. It reveals God’s
heart and character and gives us the privilege to follow His example and to bear His likeness so that others
may come to know the joy of the Lord. If
we aren’t faithful in our devotional time with the Lord, how can we ever be
faithful to lead others and walk in the good works of God? Not only will we/I lose our reward in heaven
for the things we do, but we’ll grow bitter in doing them and eventually
encounter those two terrible words we too often hear in ministry, “Burn out.” The word of God will give you His heart and
His motivation to love and lead well.
Christ is our Qualifier and without his passion and heart for this world
coursing through our veins and working in and through us, then we find ourselves
pressing into the same fruitless strengths that the world relies on. There is a greater power available every day
and He’s called the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER: Thank you
Lord for checking my heart, for causing me to look at the motivations behind
what I do. As your word saturates my
heart I become more aware of the loving boundaries that you’ve given me and I
delight in Your rebuke. I want to be a
man of character and obedience that I may be qualified to do every good work
you’ve prepared. As the song goes “Keep
my heart pure and my ways true, that I may follow You.” Your strength is indeed perfected in weakness
as Paul said. When I am weak then I am
strong. Help me to stay dependent on
Your strength and walk with integrity in all that I do that the world may see my good works and
glorify You because of it. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment