Saved in Order to Do Good
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone. At one time we were too foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress about these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After than, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned. (Titus 3:1-11)
Let's dig into this scripture:
- we are reminded that we are to be subject to rulers and to authorities. That might be difficult for a lot of people to remember because it is very easy to not like the person who is in charge of you, or the person in charge of your town, state, and even country. It is just way to easy for us to from opinions about those types of people. But we have to remember, although it might not seem like God appointed them to be leaders, he did, and when we don't listen to and respect them we are, in a way, disobeying God.
- we are reminded to be obedient. We need to be obedient to God. Obedience to God for me is doing what I feel like he wants me to do every single day. Obedience means trusting him and his plan for my life every single day in every circumstance.
- be ready to do whatever is good. One thing I have learned is that when you live life with the mindset that you are going to do good, it causes you to be ready to do good. When you think it, you will do. It's like what you magnify. What you choose to magnify you are going to get more of. So be ready to do good, when you live your life that way, you perspective about everything will be different.
- slander no one. There is no reason that we need to go around saying things about people that is not true. That is not loving your neighbor as yourself.
- be peaceable and considerate. When you are peaceful and considerate, your life becomes better. You show more love to other people, you become more patience, and your eyes are open to so many new things.
- be gentle toward everyone. This relates to what I have talked about above. It's the same idea. When you are gentle towards everyone, you notice different things about them that are so good. Being gentle toward everyone will change your life.
Here is what we used to be like: We were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
It all changed when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
We need to devote ourselves to doing what is good. Doing what is good is excellent and profitable for everyone. Imagine a world where everyone does good things for one another!
We are reminded that we need to avoid foolish controversies. There are foolish controversies that try to poison our lives every single day. That is the work of evil. Evil doesn't want there to be a world where everyone does good.
At the end, we are told that we are to warn a decisive person once, then twice, and if they don't listen the second time, we are not supposed to have anything to do with them. Those are the people who are wrapped up in being sinful and are self-condemned.
If you take one thing away from this point I hope you take away that trust in God = doing what is good. When we proclaim that we trust God with all of our hearts, we need to also devote our lives to doing what is good.
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