A GOOD REASON TO BE GOOD
Titus 3:1-6 NKJV
1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. 3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
These verses are a great reminder of why we need to be good to people. And these verses have had a personal impact on my life, so they are my go-to verses for personal interactions.
The one that got to me was verse two. "To speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men." I had been griping about my father. We were too alike in personality and tended to clash. When I came out of Bible School, I was too knowledgeable and too advanced spiritually for my dad. You know I said that tongue in cheek. The truth was that I was very full of religious knowledge that made me insufferably prideful. Paul said that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1). I like the King James Version that says knowledge puffeth up. I was definitely puffy. And the Lord corrected me by His Holy Spirit bringing this verse in Titus 3:2 to my mind.
The reason we should not puffeth up is found in the verses following verse two. Because we were all once foolish, disobedient, deceived. And verse three lays out what we were before Christ. It's not a pretty picture. We served our fleshy desires and pleasures and were living mean and envious and hateful, and we hated other people. You may protest that you were not hateful and were never envious of anyone. But don't even try to tell me that you didn't make this list at least once. We were all on this list. But…
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward us appeared, thank God, even though we were on the list, the kindness and love of God were not withheld from us. God did not extend His kindness because we were good but because of His mercy. And there we have it. We weren't good. He is all good. We weren't righteous, but He is merciful.
So now we go back to verse two with an 'ah ha' moment. We are to be good to other people because God has been good to us. We are to be gentle and show humility because we did not earn or deserve God's kindness and love. So as His children we are to represent Him in our actions and puffy is not a good representation of our kind Savior.
The Lord reminded me that even though I had been to Bible school and knew a lot of stuff. My righteousness did not exceed my father's. My dad was a believer. Both of us had been saved by God's grace. And these verses have been a good reminder to me over the years that speaking evil of other people, in general, is not a good idea. God has been good to me, and if not for His grace, where would I be now? I'll tell you where. Still on the list - foolish, disobedient, and deceived.
PRAYER
Thank You, Lord, for Your kindness and love to me. I am in no shape to be speaking evil of others. I realize that the changes in me are because of You.I have a good reason to be good.